The Heart of Winter
by RadioRegicide
Summary: X: On the way to the abandoned Branwen camp Jaune finds himself dealing with Rowan and a conversation he'd rather not have. Meanwhile, Weiss finds herself at the mercy of the Red Claw, the White Fang's elite assassins, as her situation grows worse when she is faced with an ugly truth about her immediate future. The war is coming, there is no escaping the revolution.
1. I - Release the Panic

**The Heart of Winter**

 **I** \- _Release the Panic_

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

They'd been walking for what felt like days but it been only a handful of hours and Jaune was beyond the point of panicking. The sun had set not too long ago and with each passing second it was become harder to see where he was going; he didn't dare suggest to Ruby that they stop and take a break. _Just what the hell were we even thinking?_ The blonde asked himself for the hundredth time as he followed Ruby's footsteps as best he could. They'd gotten themselves into a gigantic mess thinking they could somehow take on Cinder and make her pay for what she'd done to Pyrrha but they were way out of their depth.

As it turned out though the rogue turned Fall Maiden was only another piece in some larger game that Team RNJR had unknowingly barged right into the middle of. Hell, if it wasn't for the incident with the scorpion guy they'd probably still be running around thinking Cinder was their biggest concern. They'd been lucky to walk away from that one, Jaune thought before he looked to the man on the stretcher between himself and Ruby. Well, not all of them had been so lucky.

The only real ray of hope they'd had in the past hour or so was that Qrow had quietened as his feverish murmurs finally passed and his temperature dropped to a healthier level. Even that hope was short lived. What was once a fever was now a deathly cold that had caused his skin to go clammy and a nasty shade of green as his teeth chattered. The cold night air wasn't helping matters even if Ruby had removed her cloak to use as a makeshift blanket.

Yet for all of the miles they must've walked by now, there was no sign of Kuroyuri. No sign of hope.

At the rate things were going Qrow would be lucky to see the morning.

 _No,_ Jaune thought as he shook his head, that kind of thinking wouldn't help anyone. Wouldn't help Ruby. The diminutive Huntress hadn't said a word to him since they had parted ways with Ren and Nora however many hours ago. Her focus was pin-point and her expression stone-cold as the only thing she cared about was finding some way, any way to help her uncle.

Shaking his head, the blonde rolled his shoulders as best he could, ignoring the desperate cries of his body to stop and rest. The village couldn't be much further, he kept telling himself. Yet he was honestly beginning to doubt there was even a village left at this point, but Jaune had to try and keep some measure of hope alive if for no other reason than Ruby's sake.

' _Ten more minutes, if you keep this pace_.' Jaune blinked. Looking over his shoulder and for a moment the blonde had to wonder if exhaustion was beginning to set in. Or maybe it was hunger. He could have just sworn he heard a voice in his head. And not the internal voice that provided him with a boatload of sarcasm either. No, the crazy kind of voice in his head. ' _I'm not exhaustion. Nor are you crazy, child. You don't need to worry about that_.'

Jaune actually stopped in his tracks, causing Ruby to start as she stepped forward only for the stretcher to jerk behind her. She looked at him, over her shoulder with those wide silver eyes, a note of panic in her voice: "Jaune?" so she knew they were short on time too, huh? Shaking his head, he feigned a look over his own shoulder for a second before forcing a light chuckle.

"Thought I heard something, sorry!" he apologised, speaking for the first time in hours. Ruby didn't look very convinced by his explanation but she was clearly more concerned about her uncle's life than pressing the matter. The boy just nodded and they started back up again like nothing had happened.

' _My, the tension between you two is really something isn't it?_ ' the voice asked in the back of his head again and Jaune could feel a sense of renewed panic gripping at his heart. Of all the times to go insane, Jaune thought as he swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. Well, he thought as he tried to calm himself, even if he was hearing a voice in his head at least it was a feminine, and velvety smooth like sweet honey. Oddly comforting, he agreed with himself.

The voice just chuckled.

The howl of a wolf dragged him away from thoughts of the voice in his head, turning his head Jaune looked up to see a rather ragged looking timber wolf looking down on them from a nearby hill. The blonde Huntsman could feel himself gulp slightly as the beast stared at him intently with silvery, dead eyes; almost as though the beast knew him. Ruby looked back at him again, her desire to avoid the wolf obvious. Jaune nodded, picking up his pace. Of all the times, he scowled but narrowed his eyes as he did his best match Ruby's speed whilst not fumbling the stretcher and sending Qrow to the dirt. One lone wolf could hardly be much of a threat to the pair of them, but it was best not to find out if there was more of them hanging around nearby.

' _You do know, that if it comes down to a choice between you and him who she'd choose in a heartbeat. Right?_ ' The voice said, giving a throaty laugh as he did his best to ignore it. ' _Come now, Jaune – let's not delude ourselves – compared to the old man you might as well be an expendable piece of live bait_.'

No. Ruby didn't think like that. She was the kind of person that if presented with that kind of scenario she'd find whatever she needed to defy the odds and get everyone out alive.

' _Oh please Jaune, ignore me all you want but don't ignore the truth._ '

 _Shut up already,_ he thought, scowling as the path took a sudden sharp turn as it began to rise up a small hill. The voice just laughed back at him.

' _So you can acknowledge me,_ ' the voice said, treating him like a five-year-old with a simpering tone: he could fully picture some little kid's fat aunt condescending to them. ' _Fat? Excuse me, but did you mother teach you no manners? You never call a woman fat. It's rude._ '

 _Get out of my head, damn it._ Jaune hissed under his breath.

' _Well, if you insist but just remember you're expendable compared to him. Until next time, my sweet._ ' The voice taunted him as it faded away with throaty laughter.

"I said shut up, damn it!" Jaune yelled allowed, eyes going wide the second he finished talking as he realised what he'd done. Ruby instantly stopping, looking at him with wide – questioning – eyes as their progress came to a standstill once more atop that small hill.

Jaune could feel the heat rise up the back of his neck, how the hell was he going to explain this one? A voice in his head didn't seem like the right answer even if it was the truth. But as his mind went into overtime with an excuse to pull him out of this hole he found himself in, the blonde Huntsman was shaved by a hacking cough from Qrow.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted and she made to lower the stretcher, Jaune slowly following her lead. Thankfully the coughing fit didn't last long, but when Ruby placed a hand on his forehead gently, she looked at him with a worried expression. "His fever is back and it's worse this time."

 _Crap,_ Jaune swore, throwing his hands into his hair as he tried to think.

"S-Summer –" Qrow said weakly, eyes flickering open for a brief second and looking to Ruby with a glassy, far off expression on his face. "Summer. Shit, Summer, I screwed up. I s-screwed up _so_ bad. Please, I – I only did what was… what was…"

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cried again as she gripped the front of his shirt. Jaune could only look around helplessly, squinting in the dark as he searched for any sign of life. And whether by history's greatest stroke of luck or divine intervention, Jaune knew not nor cared, he spotted the faint outline of a ruined town just down the slope of the hill they stood on.

"Ruby, look!" Jaune shouted, narrowing his eyes for a moment before he looked at the girl at her uncle's side. Ruby's head turned so quickly at his exclamation that Jaune thought for a second she might give herself whiplash. She turned back to him, eyes wide and pleading but also for the first time since Qrow's injury, full of hope.

Jaune nodded quickly and the boy scrambled to gather up the stretcher and the pair took off into a run as best they could. At long last, they had found Kuroyuri.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby burst through another door at breakneck speed, throwing the rotten wooden entrance of yet another abandoned building to the floor in a desperate search for something that might have once been a doctor's or a place that would've sold medicine. Her breath was ragged and her body felt about ready to give up on her but the rush of adrenaline was keeping her on her feet. She couldn't lose Uncle Qrow. She couldn't. She _wouldn't_.

There was medicine around here somewhere. Something that could help him. There had to be. They'd come too far to find nothing.

But when she looked around, realising this would have once been a butcher's shop she turned on her heel and dashed back out the doorway. Why did the town have to be so large? There were too many possibilities and not nearly enough time to search them all. Running across the street, Ruby prayed that the next building would prove more fruitful but a thundering stomp seemed to shake the very earth beneath her feet – almost throwing her off balance - as she ran.

 _What was_ that _?_ Ruby thought, throwing her arms up to catch herself. Down the street she could hear Jaune shout out from where he stood guard next to Uncle Qrow: "You okay, Ruby? What was that!?"

"I don't know!" She shouted back as loud as she dared, she didn't want to alert any squatters to their presence. "Let's just hope we don't find out!" turning back to the building before her, she resumed her brisk sprint before the thundering _boom_ of the stomp shook the earth again, and then again and again before the front of the building Ruby had been running towards exploded in a shower of broken metal, glass and splintered wood and something heavy and sharp caught her in the mid-section. A deafening roar cut the silent night air like gunfire.

"Ruby!" She barely managed to catch Jaune's panicked cry as she was thrown into the air like a rag doll. Ruby could only catch a glimpse of her surroundings as everything blurred together as she spun wildly and then as suddenly as she'd left it she crashed into the dirt path, her face hit the ground and it stung like one of Yang 's right hooks and her Aura _shattered_.

In a single swing, something had rendered her completely helpless.

" _Ruby…_!" she heard Jaune's cry of despair as he called out again as she hit the dirt, a sudden screaming pain in her left leg. It took everything she had left not to burst into tears, as she struggled onto her elbows looking down to see a piece of a jagged rusted pipe had gone right through her thigh. It looked like it had missed the bone but it still hurt worse than anything else she'd ever experienced.

Unable to hold herself up Ruby let herself drop to her stomach, desperately crawling to Jaune as he ran to her as fast as he could. This really couldn't be it, could it? They'd finally found Kuroyuri and it was all for nothing?

Ruby's vision seemed to go as she gasped for breath, the pain in her leg sharp and burning. Jaune dropped down next to her rolling her onto her back to look her in the eyes. After a moment her vision came back, if a little blurry, and her gaze wandered from Jaune's panicked blue eyes to the shape now standing where a building once had. It was larger than most Grimm she'd ever seen – Jaune would be lucky to reach its waist – and built with the power and strength of dozens, maybe hundreds, of its kind. Its skeletal white mask was marked red and conformed perfectly to its bullish face, large rigid white horns aimed skyward, skin a slick black with strangely hairy legs and bone like protrusion rising out of the Grimm's chest and shoulders, as well as its back. And in it boulder-sized hands the Grimm gripped a towering bone-like axe that must've been as large as its wielder. Cloven hoofs scraped against the ground, trampling what little was left of the building Ruby had been running to.

How had neither of them see that thing coming?

"A Minotaur…!" Jaune said in a strangled voice and Ruby felt her blood run cold. Professor Port had only ever spoken of Minotaur's briefly in their year at Beacon: all he had said of the monolithic Grimm was that they were so few in number that most people thought they were myths but they supposedly possessed combat skill unmatched by other Grimm and a feral cunning that made them one of the most dangerous species of Grimm in existence - almost comparable to a Wraith or even a Lesh. Even as a full team this was something Ruby was sure RNJR could not have defeated: at least not without casualties. This was something that a full team of four full qualified Hunters would struggle to defeat.

This thing would make the Geist from some weeks back look like a bad joke.

"I'm so sorry Jaune," Ruby said as she almost choked on a sob. They were both going to die and it was all her fault. Her panic over Uncle Qrow was so great it must've been what attracted the Minotaur in the first place. She'd been terrified and ready to give into despair and her desire to save her uncle was going to kill them both.

"Don't say anything," Jaune shook his head, looking serious and resolute. He wrapped one arm around her and gave her an awkward hug as he tried to draw his sword at the same time. "Run to your uncle, get him out of here and find someone who can help. I'll buy you some time and meet up with you when I lose this thing."

"Jaune, no!"

"Ruby," he said back firmly, looking down at her as the Minotaur finally stepped out of the wreckage of the fallen building, brushing what was left of the ruins aside with the butt of its giant bone-axe, every one of its step shaking the group as dirt cracked and sunk below its heavy hoofs creating miniature craters. "Save your uncle."

Ruby didn't get the chance to argue as Jaune released her before he scrambled into a haphazard sprint, screaming at the Minotaur so it would follow him and not her. The legendary Grimm gave the blonde one disinterested look before it turned back to the wounded Huntress and charged with a bellowing roar. Despite the thing's bulk and sheer size, it moved with a sudden burst of speed that would outpace many other Grimm.

Ruby was faster. Or at least she would've been if there wasn't a rusted halfpipe jutting out of her left thigh.

Scrambling upright as best she could she tried to run for all she was worth but only managed a dozen yards or so before her legs gave out under her. Ruby went face first into the dirt before she was nearly deafened but a suddenly thundering _crash_ as the entire world seemed to shake and broken rock and rubble went flying overhead as dust flew into the air like a giant smokescreen.

The Minotaur had hit something, but whatever it had hit wasn't her.

It didn't matter, though, as by the time the cloud cleared, Ruby's eyes had flickered closed and the world had gone dark.

* * *

 **Song:** _Release the Panic_ as performed by Red


	2. II – Thoughts of a Dying Atheist

**The Heart of Winter**

 **II** – _Thoughts of a Dying Atheist_

* * *

 **Qrow Branwen**

Qrow knew not what possessed him – everything hurt and his brain felt like it would melt as his body burnt up. But it was an undeniable stroke of luck that he'd regained consciousness when he did; a building had collapsed as a Minotaur had charged through it, sending Ruby flying. Dragging himself upright as the world came back into focus, Qrow threw himself between Ruby and the Minotaur at the last possible second, his knees almost buckling under the strain of keeping the gigantic Grimm at bay. The older Huntsman held _Death's Respite_ in its sword from above his head, the point was angled downward and the flat of the blade was now pressed his left arm as though it was a shield.

 _Heh, now this is a proper way to die. Instead of some shitty poison,_ Qrow thought as the beastly Grimm reared back a step, dirt and rock flying into the air, the beast furious that its charge had been halted. Qrow knew he wouldn't survive another hit. He wasn't _that_ much of a fool. All he needed to do was buy Jaune time to get Ruby to safety. Nothing else mattered in what would probably be his last moments.

But in another stroke of miraculous luck, the reason for Qrow's sudden clear-headedness revealed herself with a chilling _caw_ before something red and black plummeted from the sky, a gleaming red blade piercing the Minotaur's head with a sickening _crack_ as its mask chipped. The beast roared loudly before swinging out wildly to hit back at its attacker, almost taking Qrow's head off of his shoulders – but his knees gave out at that exact moment.

Raven made a graceful landing next to Qrow, the hilt of her weapon, _Quoth Shadow_ , in one hand; the red dust blade still embedded in the Minotaur's massive skull. The Grimm went stumbling back down the street, dropping its axe as it threw up its hands to clutch its wounded head and pull out the broken blade.

Raven quickly lost interest in the Grimm and turned her head to look at Qrow, and although she said nothing her glare was certainly something else. Ah yes, how he had missed that particularly sisterly glare and the warm fuzzies it gave him. Still, he was at a loss for words, so Qrow just threw his head back and _laughed_. It really had been a strange couple of days.

Shaking his head, he didn't notice Raven pull out a syringe from somewhere, a pouch on her belt if he'd been paying attention, before she slammed the thing into his chest, knocking all the air from his lungs as she injected him with something.

"On your feet, fool," his sister ordered him as he clutched his chest, trying to wrap his head around what was happening. "That was a modified shot of adrenaline that should help clear your head and stop the poison from shutting your body down for a while. It should stimulate your Aura somewhat as well so the Minotaur won't kill you by breathing on you." _Must be one hell of a shot,_ Qrow thought but knew it was for the best he kept that particular comment to himself.

It didn't mean he didn't have another ready to go: "So, is this your way of asking me for help?" Qrow said in a tone he was sure that would have gotten his sister to pummel him any other day. It did at least cause her glare to intensify as she rounded on him. She looked ready to say something but then her eyes shifted to the prone form of Ruby after a second before she turned her glare back to him.

"Be gratefully she's still owed her one, brother." Qrow let out a growl as he staggered upright, ready to tear into his sister and her warped idea of what it meant to be a family when, to his surprise, she added in a softer tone: "Besides, I might believe in strength above all else I'm _not_ a fool. Minotaur's are not to be taken lightly and doing this together increased our odds of victory."

"I'll take that as a yes," Qrow muttered, lifting _Death's Respite_ back onto his shoulder. "It's been a while since we fought together, think you remember how? You were never very good at playing with others not named _Taiyang_."

"I can still leave you to die, _little_ brother," Raven retorted without looking at him as Jaune came scrambling up, panicked and surprised, his face a ghostly white which was coated with sweat. _She's never going to let go of those twelve minutes, is she?_ "Get the girl somewhere safe. Find a building to take shelter in and we'll find you when we're done here." Raven ordered Jaune without looking at him, eyeing the kill before them instead: "We don't need children getting in the way."

Qrow shot his sister a sideways glance before he looked back to Jaune. It was true the pair of them didn't exactly have the best repertoire with each other but he knew the kid had a good head on his shoulders and a strong heart. Qrow was glad when Jaune shakily nodded back. He had no intention of getting in the way. He would follow Raven's orders without question because Ruby's life mattered more than anything else.

"You shouldn't talk to him like that," Qrow said, rolling one shoulder as heard Jaune pick up Ruby before taking off at the fast speed he could manage. Whilst he wasn't exactly fond of Jaune, he could empathise with the kid on some level. He just wanted to do the right thing. "He's a good kid."

"Being a _'good kid'_ doesn't make you a capable Huntsman, little brother," Raven replied coolly as the Minotaur finally managed to collect itself, plucking its gigantic weapon from the ground with a roar that shook many of the surrounding buildings. "In fact, if I recall correctly it seems more likely to get you killed more often than anything else."

"Low blow Raven."

" _Strangely_ I don't find it in me to care," Raven said – not missing a beat – reinserting the hilt of _Quoth Shadow_ into its scabbard before the barrel began to rotate. When she redrew the weapon the blade was a cyan colour. "You are in no condition to take point: I will take the beast head on, use the scythe form of your weapon and stay at arm's length and try and go for the back of its knees and try to disable its legs."

"It wouldn't kill you to say please," Qrow said dryly, but he knew in this situation he had no choice but to follow his sister's lead.

"You'd be surprised." Ah, good old Branwen family solidarity at its finest, Qrow thought.

The signal to go was wordless, but even after so many years of being apart, the Branwen twins still found themselves in sync when it came to fighting – shame that connection didn't extend to anything beyond combat. Raven took the lead like she said, charging the Grimm with _Quoth Shadow_ at the ready, running one hand along the blade as the dust suddenly activated at her touch.

Letting out a roar, the Minotaur met Raven head on, lifting its giant axe overhead before swinging down with surprising precision. Had his sister been a second slower, or perhaps a little unlucky, the blow probably would have cleaved her clean down the middle. Instead, she artfully dodged the attack, swinging her sword upwards in a calculated arc as the dust blade melted away into a gigantic air slash that hit the Grimm head-on, forcing it back a few inches down the street but leaving no signs of damage.

Raven recklessly didn't think to move out of the beast's range as she went to draw a new dust blade. She, much like Qrow probably would've in her situation, assumed the Grimm would want to pull its axe out of the dirt and then take another swing at her. Rather the thing just lifted one fist from the axe and swung at Raven, blasting her into the wall of a nearby ruined building.

 _Damn it,_ Qrow cursed as he threw himself forward into a run. _Idiot_ , he thought as he'd just stood there and watched. He needed to buy time before the Minotaur could charge Raven whilst she still recovered from the blow.

Sweeping around behind the humongous Grimm, Qrow followed his sister's directions and went for the back of its knees. The blade of _Death Respite_ smacked against the beast's thick hide but left no real impression - bouncing off like a rubber ball. He must've seemed like a fly buzzing around the Minotaur. Still, he was one pretty annoying fly, Qrow thought as the beast turned on him before it could charge his sister.

Using the difference in height, Qrow tried to duck between the beast's legs before it could bring its axe down on him and cleave him into two crows rather than one Qrow. But the Minotaur had been ready for that; to his surprise, it twisted away from him as he dashed forward, before coming back around and _kicking_ him. If Raven hadn't given him that... _whatever_ it was; he highly doubted it was what she said it was, he probably would've been made into a pancake as he was knocked prone and what little Aura he had sparked and crackled.

Another hit and it'd break. Another solid hit and he'd be dead regardless.

The Minotaur was in no mood to surrender its advantage as it lifted its hoof and then stomped on him. Qrow was pounded into the dirt, leaving a person shaped crater in the street as the only thing keeping the Minotaur from crushing him was _Death's Respite_ , which he held above him like a flimsy shield, the weapon's shaft groaning under the weight of the giant Grimm.

There was a sickening _creak_ , then a _crack_ as the body of Death's Respite suddenly buckled and bent. Whilst Qrow swore loudly, he supposed a bent weapon was better than being turned into jam. Thankfully it was in that second as Qrow's arms gave out that Raven made her presence known as she was on the Minotaur's back, hacking and slashing wildly with her weapon.

The Grimm went reeling back and away from Qrow and his hole in the road, once more snatching wildly as it tried to pull the woman attacking it off of its back with a furious roar.

"Buy me a second!" Qrow shouted at Raven as he clambered to his feet, looking around for something, anything, that could help him bend the weapon back into shape. He could hardly fight with a weapon like this after all.

Raven just yelled profanities at him in response as she barely leapt off the Minotaur's back in time to avoid it grabbing her.

Staggering around drunkenly, Qrow headed for the wreckage of the building that had acted as the Minotaur's grand entrance. It was a good thing that Raven was letting her Semblance run wild because he found an old support beam that he could use to help bend the shaft of the scythe back into shape. If he could find the strength to push down.

It took him longer than it should have, but eventually, he was able to slide the blade of the scythe under the beam and, using a smaller beam at the point where the shaft bent, he pulled down on the end and with another sickening _crack_ , the weapon retook its intended shape - for the most part. _Summer would kill me if she could see what I've done to you…_ Qrow thought with a shudder at the idea of his diminutive partner's wrath. _Why'd the obsession with weapons have to be genetic?_

Either way, the amount of work it was going to properly fix _Death's Respite_ meant he'd be better off just rebuilding the weapon from scratch. Or at least that would have been the plan if he was actually going to survive the night. None of that mattered though because Raven still needed his help – Qrow could worry when he was dead.

Leaping forward, he used the curved blade of his scythe to catch the blade of the Minotaur's axe as it had been in mid swing before it could cut Raven in two.

"Son of a–!" Qrow swore loudly as the Minotaur surprised him again as it twisted its weight, using the blade of its axe to send _Death's Respite_ crashing to the ground before the end of the polearm came swinging up like a humongous white bullet and catching him in the midsection.

Well, there went what little Aura he had left.

Qrow was thrown off his feet and went careering down the ruined street. He landed in a heap, his scythe landing next to him with an awful clatter. The ageing Huntsman could only groan as everything hurt. He was lucky that nothing was broken after such a blow. _At least there's one upside to being stuck with Raven of all people,_ he thought as he struggled onto all fours. Even when they were little and still members of the tribe, their Semblances had often acted to counterbalance one another and cancel each other out. When they spent too much time apart was when things would get bad for Qrow.

Snatching _Death's Respite_ from the ground, Qrow took off into another dash as he could see Raven once more dodging a wide swing from the Minotaur's axe before lunging forward with another cyan coloured dust blade. Again the impact was almost unnoticeable.

Skidding to a stop behind the Minotaur, Qrow pulled his weapon back and then he swung down catching the Minotaur across the back of its knees once again. This time though the Minotaur threw an elbow back, catching Qrow in the chest before it swung at him with its axe overhead. Barely dodging the strike in time, the younger of the Branwen twins lunged forward, swing his scythe at the Minotaur's hand as he jumped onto the axe itself.

Behind it, Raven swung up with a red dust blade and finally, one of their attacks seemed to have some sort of impact as the Grimm roared in pain. The surprises kept on coming though as instead of lifting its weapon from the ground, the Minotaur reached out with one hand and grabbed Qrow, squeezing him like a stress ball and then launching him at Raven as it turned to face the female Branwen.

Qrow hit Raven at ridiculous speeds, lifting his sister into the air as they went for a tumble down the street together. Using _Death's Respite_ Qrow caught himself before he could fly too far, the scythe acting as an anchor as it dug into the old cobblestone.

 _Damn_ , he thought, _I've heard stories about these things but it sure can take some hits._ Looking over his shoulder quickly, Qrow saw Raven drag herself to her feet, her Aura flickering a little. Even though the damn thing had only touched them a few times every hit was comparable to a few dozen regular Grimm attacks.

"You got a plan?" Qrow shouted over his shoulder as the Minotaur gathered itself, rising back to its full height, snorting out a cloud of smoke in frustration. It was going to charge. It probably intended to flatten both annoying humans in a single run.

"Qrow, fastball!" Raven shouted at him as she ran towards him and Qrow really wanted to yell curses at her. Really? The fastball special was what they were resorting to? They really must've been desperate. But Qrow bit his tongue and swallowed his pride as he assumed the position – _Death's Respite_ in both hands with the weapon held over his head and curling down back towards the ground behind him.

The next thing he felt was something push down on _Death's Respite_ as it suddenly became much heavier. It was a monumental task to swing the blade overhead, acting as a launched pad for Raven as he threw his sister into the air. Thankfully she'd been balancing perfectly on the scythe's edge and she went spinning into the air.

Having been more focused on charging Qrow down, the human who had been slashing at the back of its knees, the stupid Grimm hadn't thought to look up for Raven as it moved. And then she came crashing down, the red dust blade of _Quoth Shadow_ suddenly bursting into flame as it swung in arc, catching the Minotaur down the right side with a roar of fire and serving one of its horns and leaving a burning cut down it chest and severing several of the creature's fingers as its weapon was snapped in two.

Watching from afar, it had been like watching a knife go through hot butter. Raven made her three-point landing, the hilt of _Quoth Shadow_ going straight for the scabbard so she could draw another blade. But the Minotaur had already staggered away from his sister, dropping both halves of its weapon as it cried out in pain.

It fixed them with one last look of hatred before it turned its head and broke into a running charge. A retreat as its severed body parts burst into black smoke. It was over, Qrow realised with a sigh of relief, they'd survived.

They'd actually won. Sort of.

Qrow just about collapsed when the Minotaur crashed through a nearby building, making a hasty exit. _Smart bastard,_ the trained Huntsman thought as he used _Death's Respite_ as a crutch in a poor attempt to support himself. Most Grimm lacked the sense to run when they realised the prey they sought was beyond their reach. _It'll be back,_ he thought as he lifted his gaze from the ground to see his sister kneel before him.

Even if she wouldn't admit it aloud, she was visibly exhausted and oddly concerned. If they'd both been at full strength things might have gone differently, but they were both lucky to still be breathing. Even if Qrow wouldn't be for much longer. Raven had been right, if she'd fought that thing alone she'd have lost. Maybe she'd have escaped with her life but she most certainly wouldn't have won the duel. The Minotaur was slower but all it needed was one or two hits to match their damage they'd dealt with dozens of blows.

None of that mattered now though. All that mattered was that the Minotaur was gone and Qrow again owed his sister a great debt.

"Thank you," Qrow breathed as he hung his head – he did not want his last conversation to be an argument between siblings, he decided, "thank you for helping me save Ruby."

"Everybody gets one," Raven said with a bow of her head. Standing, she dusted herself off before she moved to support his weight and help him walk. Raven chanced one last glance at where the Minotaur had run before shaking her head: "We should find the children, things have changed drastically since our last conversation and we need to have a talk."

 _Sorry, Raven,_ Qrow chuckled to himself as he found the entire situation oddly humorous, _I'm spent - time for me to shuttle off._ It seemed fitting that he'd die in the middle of nowhere, in an abandoned village with only his sister's company. Well, at least no one else would be around to see his rather pathetic end, he guessed. Although now when he saw Summer again at long last, he could say he went out like somewhat of a badass instead of dying of liver failure or something stupid like that. _Just wait for me a little longer Summer, I'll be there in just a second._ And with that as his last thought, Qrow let his eyes close as he gave into exhaustion and the poison in his system and slumped forward as he let consciousness leave him, a faint smile on his lips as _Death's Respite_ clattered to the ground and the last thing he heard was his sister call his name.

* * *

 **Song:** _Thoughts of a Dying Atheist_ as performed by Muse


	3. III - Take No Prisoners

**The Heart of Winter**

 **III** – _Take No Prisoners_

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

The silence was all too resounding, Jaune thought as he sat against the rotten wooden wall of an old abandoned house. Ruby lay unconscious nearby, chest gently rising falling but she'd been dead to the world for the past few hours and showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Not long after the sound of battle faded their mysterious saviour appeared, hauling Qrow along with her as best she could on her own. She'd looked further annoyed but most of her own injuries seemed superficial. On the women's orders, Jaune had taken Qrow's raggedy old cloak and used it as a makeshift bandage to help apply to pressure to Ruby's wounded leg.

She'd set Qrow against the opposite wall, letting his head loll forward be he was still alive and breathing - somehow. She'd spent some time examining the older Huntsman in silence before turning to Jaune with a stern look; "The shot I gave him earlier is not enough to treat the poison in his system," Jaune was worried she was going to say something like that.

"So that's it then...?"

"No," she shook her head, scowling, "after all the effort I went through to save his hide I'm not going to let some silly poison kill him." And so she had stood up, brushing herself off, "make sure he doesn't die why I go and retrieve what I need to treat him. Do not leave this building under any circumstances unless it is the only way for you to keep them alive."

"Who _are_ you?" Jaune demanded a little more forcefully than he should have, give the woman quietened him with a harsh glare. He was even a little panicked when her hand went to the hilt of her blade. After a long moment, her glare weakened and her posture seemed to relax a little as she looked at Qrow's slumped form.

"I am Raven Branwen," the lightbulb inside of Jaune's head went off, "I am Qrow's sister." The blonde gave a nervous nod; so this was Yang's biological mother? He recalled Ruby telling him about her and Yang's situation during their second semester at Beacon after he'd idiotically pointed out that despite being sister's the girls didn't remotely look alike.

"So you're here to help your brother?" As though he knew someone was talking about him, Qrow started to cough weakly. Jaune quickly rushed over to check on Qrow, and whilst his temperature was certainly lower than earlier he was starting to heat up again. Whatever Raven had given him earlier must have started to wear off, meaning the poison could resume its work unimpeded.

"My brother owes me a great debt that I intend to collect," Raven stated simply, looking rather irked again now the blonde was asking more questions, "I can't collect that debt if he's dead." _Well_ , Jaune thought, _that's kind of cold_. "Now if you're done asking incepted questions I'll take my leave for now seeing as time is not something we have on our side."

Jaune didn't like the idea of being left on his own with two unconscious people, especially when the Minotaur might come back for round two. Yet, he was smart enough to know in this instances he did not want to push his luck. What little he'd gleaned of Raven's character told him it would not be a wise move. So he'd nodded, watching stupefied as the dark-haired woman had summoned a strange looking portal, stepping into with one last look over her shoulder; "Don't do anything stupid."

That had all been several hours ago and the sickly grey sky had lightened somewhat, indicating that morning had finally come. There was still no sign of Raven making a reappearance and Qrow's condition was once again worsening, but he was still, by some stroke of luck, alive.

Shifting, Jaune stood up and stretched, his entire body felt three times as heavier than it should, but he supposed that's what nearly an entire day without a real meal or sleep would do to a person. Given everything that happened in the past few days, Jaune was beginning to wonder if this entire mission had been doomed from the start. Tyrian had wiped the floor with them until Qrow had shown up and even he had ended seriously injured with things only getting steadily worse from there.

' _Looks like the old man wasn't joking about being a literal bad luck charm,_ ' the velvety voice was back, causing Jaune to blink - he'd almost completely forgot about the voice in his head after everything that had happened. ' _I'm a little curious to see what the next disaster to strike is but I've always been a little morbid like that._ '

Jaune could only growl in frustration as he threw his hands into his hair, doing his best to cover his ears with his forearms. It seemed the next disaster was the complete collapse of his sanity. _Get out of my head_ , he hoped against all better judgement that the voice would listen to him. This was the last thing he needed right now, but that was probably exactly why the voice chose that exact moment to reappear.

' _I think I'll stay,_ _thank you,_ ' the voiced taunted all too gleefully, ' _I mean I was awfully bored and thought I'd drop in a say hello. Y'know, make sure you were still kicking after having a run in with a Minotaur of all things._ ' Jaune screwed his eyes shut as he took a long, shuddering breath. All he had to do was ignore it, eventually the silence would return and with it hopefully Raven would too. ' _She's certainly a strange one, isn't she?_ '

 _Ignore it,_ Jaune thought, pacing back and forth for a moment, doing his best to find any way to distract himself.

' _You know,_ ' the voice chipped in, a sing-song note in its voice, ' _you've got to wonder what this debt is that's she's talking about, right Blondie? I mean, old man Qrow would've had to have done something particularly interesting he wants to be kept hush-hush for his sister to call it a_ great _debt. Any ideas?_ ' Jaune started to whistle to himself, trying to make some sort of noise that would drown out the unwanted guest in his head. ' _Oh, come on, Blondie, don't be like that - spitball with me. It'll take your mind off of things for a while._ '

He seriously doubted that.

 _'Still, it all sounds rather fishy if you ask me._ '

 _I didn't._ Jaune thought with a scowl. _Damn it_ , he thought as the voice laughed haughtily at the fact his resolve had finally cracked but Ruby seemed to groan awake and Jaune felt his heart stir as her eyes finally flickered open.

"Hey there," Jaune said softly, smiling weakly before moving to support her as she tried her best to sit upright, "take it easy, Ruby. You've been unconscious for a few hours and you don't want to go making things worse."

"A few hours?" Ruby repeated huskily, Jaune nodded weakly but saw her eyes go wide as it all came rushing back. "The Minotaur…? Uncle Qrow!?" Jaune did his best to hold Ruby down as she tried to stand, mindful not to be too forceful with her in case he did any more damage.

"Relax Ruby," Jaune did his best to sound soothing, but it was hard with a disembodied voice in his head laughing at his pathetic attempt to keep his friend calm. "He's still alive," he looked to where Qrow sat slumped against the wall, breath laboured but Ruby seemed to calm drastically at the sight of her uncle, "he's a little beat up but he should be fine when help returns with medicine."

"You found help?" Ruby's eyes snapped back to him and he nodded, ' _Well,_ ' the voice in his head teased, ' _it'd be more fitting to say help found you._ ' Jaune paid the voice no notice as he watched Ruby carefully, grateful when he saw her visibly relax at the news. It was no secret that Ruby was short, but in that moment Jaune swore he had never seen her look more vulnerable, utterly tiny compared to the weight which she carried on her shoulders.

"You should rest for a while," Ruby looked up at him, "that was a pretty nasty hit that you took last night."

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Jaune," Ruby mumbled weakly as she looked down in shame, now refusing to meet his gaze.

"What? You didn't drag me into anything," Jaune shook his head as he inwardly cursed, _No, don't start doing this, Ruby. You're stronger than this, don't let a few bad days beat you down. We can still make it through this, you just have to stay strong._ "You never dragged any of us into this, we _wanted_ to come. What you did, after losing as much as you did – it gave us the courage to follow you because even after everything you were still willing to keep going. To not give up. We wanted to be like that, too. To help you fight Cinder. Nobody made us do anything."

"But none of us were really ready for this." That quiet exclamation stunned him.

"You can't be serious, Ruby?" Jaune replied softly, wishing Ruby would look him in the eye. "I mean, look how far we came, just the four of us. Are you really just going to give up the first time we stumble? The first time we lose? After everything we've been through to get here...?"

"But this _isn't_ the first time we've lost," Ruby said and Jaune looked at her with surprise. "I mean we've been on the losing side for a while, haven't we? Look around, Jaune, this isn't just a loss: it's _defeat_. I'm right, aren't I? If we were winning we wouldn't be here in the first place, we'd still be back at Beacon, ignorant of what's really going on."

' _She does have you there, Boy Wonder_ ,' Jaune didn't say anything as he found his well thought out response suddenly vanish into thin air. Sighing, Ruby looked back to Jaune, and for what seemed like the first time since she woke up, made eye contact. Resignation and defeat were what Jaune say in her eyes. He could feel his shoulders go lax as Ruby's resolve to forge onward continued to dive bomb.

"We're not the heroes from the stories," Jaune didn't need anyone to tell him that. He'd know his entire life he was no hero. "We acted like we were and look at us now: we're out of our league here and we've been doing this for all the wrong reasons."

"Stopping Cinder is the wrong reason?" Jaune asked, flabbergasted.

"This was never about just stopping Cinder, though, was it?" Ruby shook her head, "This was about revenge. If we carry on like this the body count is only going to get bigger and it'll be our own fault. I could've gotten you all killed who knows how many in the past few days alone."

"But we're still alive, Ruby!" Even to his own ears, it sounded like Jaune was begging, pleading for Ruby to be able to see things from his point of view. "

"But we never defeated Tyrian," It was really Qrow, Jaune finished in his mind, knowing where Ruby was going. "If we can't beat Tyrian on our own, Jaune then how do you expect us to beat Cinder with the powers of a Maiden? We set out on this journey because we thought Cinder could be defeated, that we could defeat her. Punish her for what she did to Pyrrha and everyone else at Beacon."

"Because she _does_!"

"But that's not what Pyrrha would want," Ruby could feel the tears falling. It took a lot of effort to lift one hand to numbly wipe them away with the back of her hand. "Do you really think this is how she'd want to be honoured? By turning her death into a cold quest for vengeance? Pyrrha would want to stop Cinder," Ruby added, seeing Jaune, who was also crying, open his mouth to interrupt her, "but it would never be about getting revenge – she'd want to stop Cinder because it's the _right_ thing to do."

Jaune opened his mouth to retort but the words died in his mouth. He found himself deflating, utterly exhausted as he realised Ruby was right. Pyhraa would not condone some cold quest for vengeance. Jaune admitted as much before adding; "We can't just give up. Not after everything we've given to get here." In that moment both of them looked to Qrow, brief understanding passing between them as the knew Jaune had left the: _'and will give up'_ of his statement unsaid.

Ruby shook her head meekly; "I should never have dragged you guys into this."

Jaune just looked at her, hoping she could see he didn't blame her for anything that had happened since Beacon fell - or during it. "You _never_ dragged any of us into this, we wanted to come. What you 're trying to do, after losing as much as you have – it gave us the courage to follow you because even after everything you were still willing to keep moving forward. To not give up."

"Y'know," Ruby sniffed weakly, trying to wipe away the tears again, "when Professor Ozpin let me attend Beacon early, made me a team leader I really thought of it as validation. That I hadn't been fooling myself into thinking I would make a good Huntress. That may be, just maybe, he saw something special in me. He was _wrong_."

"No, Ruby, he wasn't," Jaune said firmly, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I know he wasn't. Because I saw something special in you too, Ruby." Ruby looked at him, dead in the eye, ready to say something when a creak in the floor caused her eyes to go wide in panic.

"Jaune look out!" Panic rising in his own chest, Jaune half spun as he tried to face the sudden intruder. Perhaps it was Raven, back with medicine for Qrow.

But the woman behind him was not Raven.

She had heavily tanned skin and a prominent scar that cut across the bridge her nose beneath dark, frameless glasses, with wild, boyish white hair that fell to her shoulders. Tall, towering on mechanical legs that attached at the thigh, painted orange and black with clawed feet, rolled combat pants and a white tube top that bore a black version of the roaring tiger skull she wore on her black beanie. Her black jacket was lined with orange coloured fur that formed a collar then fell down like a cap over the back of the jacket. Her belt lined with a dozen kukri, an old-fashioned rifle slung over her shoulder.

"Lights out, blondie." The woman hissed and Jaune felt his nose break as a foot crashed into his face. There was only a white-hot pain as he felt blood trickle down his face and then, darkness. Meanwhile, the fading sound of a horrific scream some ways away echoing throughout the once again populated Kuroyuri.

* * *

 **Lie Ren**

Not again. _Not. Again._ The scream, although distant was still unmistakable even after all these years. Ren could not lose anyone else to that monstrosity. They had to find Jaune, Ruby and Qrow before the Grimm did.

Kuroyuri was a desolate graveyard at first glance, many of the buildings looked about ready to give out but Ren didn't care about any of that. He could barely hear anything over the rampaging beat of his own heart hammering in his ears as he and Nora skidded around another corner. The arch that led into the heart of the village was now in sight.

Just ahead. A few more steps.

What awaited them in the village square was not what Ren had expected: a group of bandits that had somehow gotten ahold of an old, highly outdated Bullhead. Which they were in the process of tossing an unconscious Jaune onto, throwing _Crocea Mors_ on after him like it was trash.

"Who the hell are you!?" Nora shouted at the bandits. The few still on the ground turned to look at them, having not expected a confrontation. One bandit, a woman with mechanical legs leered at them as lifted the up the rifle form of _Crescent Rose_. With little accuracy or practise, she tried firing off a few shots but it was clear she had no real command over Ruby's weapon.

They didn't have time for this. With each minute they wasted the monster grew closer. Taking _StromFlower_ in hand, Ren mad to rush the bandit as he fired off a several shots bursts. He wouldn't let these people take Jaune and Ruby. The bandit with Crescent Rose swore loudly as she fumbled with the weapon, trying to hit Ren as he zig-zagged his way towards her.

Something did hit him when she fired off the next shot - it wasn't a bullet from _Crescent Rose_ but a bolt of white lightning that caught him square in the centre of his chest.

"Ren!" Heard Nora call his name as his feet came out from under him. His partner had also been moving to attack the bandits, only a step behind him with _Magnhild_ in its hammer configuration but when he dropped he could see all other concerns leave Nora's eyes. _No, help Jaune and Ruby!_ he thought as the redhead skidded to a stop at his side, but when he tried to say as much, could only let out a wheezing cough as his chest tightened.

Across the square, the Bullhead's engine screamed to life with an intense _thrumming_ noise. The bandit with Ruby's weapon scowled, shouting at someone on the ship but given the distance and noise of the engine, Ren couldn't hear what she was yelling about. But when she turned back to them it was with a murderous smirk on her lips.

"Are you sure we don't need to capture these two?" One bandit shouted over the engine as Ren brushed Nora off, scrambling to action before the bandits could take off with their teammates. It wasn't the fight he had expected when he and Nora had run at full sprint for Kuroyuri, but he'd at least been right to expect one. Besides aside from whoever was throwing around lightning these bandits would hardly prove a challenge for some who trained to be a Huntsmen and even then he just had to let Nora handle the one with lightning powers.

The female bandit who had stolen Crescent Rose shook her head, lifting the looted weapon to take aim. "Nope," she shouted back, ignoring the calls of someone on the ship for her to get on already, "Raven just wanted these three. I reckon we earnt ourselves a little fun." A few of the other bandits loitering on the Bullhead made to jump down and join their comrade but suddenly stopped without explanation as the Bullhead engine gave a screech and began to hover just off the ground. Even the women with mechanical legs stopped, lowering _Crescent Rose_ and Ren was sure he could see a clear hint of fear in her eyes.

That was when he heard them growing closer. Hovens falling onto forgotten cobblestones of the ruined road, cracking stonework under the weight of the creature they carried. A second later the arch into the town square came crashing down and the bandits all scrambled to get back on their ship. The woman who had stolen Crescent Rose took the distraction to hastily clamber aboard as well - her instinct to flee before this particular Grimm stronger than her desire to kill Ren and Nora.

Ren didn't want to look back over his shoulder. He already knew what he'd see if he did, but his body defied his better judgement. Standing amidst rubble was the terrible Grimm that had haunted his nightmares, a twisted combination of man and horse, long arms dragging along the ground as the rider was slumped against the half which was demonic steed. The Nuckelavee was peppered with old arrows and broken blades that didn't seem to bother the creature at all. When the rider finally rose, twisting and bending Ren would have sworn in that moment when the Grimm's eyes opened and flared with unlife that the beast recognised him.

"Enjoy," the female bandit jeered, leaning out of the side of the old Bullhead with a mocking wave as the ship took off. _No!_ Ren could see the panic in Nora's eyes as she moved to action, lifting _Magnhild_ as it collapsed into its grenade launcher form to fire at the ship and prevent the bandits from running away. But another bolt of white lighting arced out of the ship and tore the grenades apart before they could cause any damage to the Bullhead and Ren and Nora could only watch the ship vanish into the grey clouds above.

Now it was just the two of them and the Nuckelavee.

Ren met Nora's gaze, his longtime partner looking as about as terrified as Ren felt. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Grimm just standing there; watching them. It was like the thing didn't think enough of them to even attack whilst they were distracted. This Grimm seemed to think itself so above their level that it stood there, silently taunting them to make the first move.

 _Is this really how it was going to end?_ Ren thought with a heavy heart as he spared one last glance around himself. No. He had not come back to Kuroyuri to die to the same monster that had killed his family. He would destroy this Grimm and then he and Nora would find Ruby and Jaune along with Qrow and then they would all go to Haven, just liked they'd planned. _We've come too far to die here, to something like_ this _._

As if sensing his thoughts, Nora stepped into place next to him, slipping one hand into his as she could as he was holding two automatic pistols. He looked down at her, and although she was clearly terrified, he could see the resolve burning in her eyes. They run from this long enough. Together they could overcome this demon that marred their past.

"Together." Was all Nora said as she squeezed his hand for the briefest of moments.

"Together," Ren repeated as he readied himself and _Magnhild_ once again became an exploding hammer. Then the Nuckelavee screamed and the battle began in earnest as long black arms become a blur and the main square of Kuroyuri exploded with the sound of action.

* * *

 **Song:** _Take No Prisoners_ as performed by Megadeath


	4. IV – Bad Moon Rising

**The Heart of Winter**

 **IV** – _Bad Moon Rising_

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby awoke with a skull-splitting headache. Everything hurt including things she didn't know could hurt.

Even though the world was a blur, she could tell she'd been sat upright by someone, supported by the rough bark of an aged tree stump or something close to it. Whimpering, Ruby tried to move, to get back on her feet, but the chains binding her only dug deeper into her skin. Wait, chains? How? Closing her eyes in an attempt to ignore the flickering orange light of the otherwise dark world that burned her eyes – the last thing she remembered was the stranger kicking Jaune in the face with her mechanical leg before a sharp pain in the back of her own head.

Speaking of, when Ruby forced herself to open her eyes she looked around for the blonde. It was a desperate struggle before the world finally refocused and everything was painfully clear. The large bonfire before her illuminated the camp's heart, other smaller fires must've been dotted around the maze of make-shift tents but in this central clearing, there was a few larger, grander tents and a handful of other stakes set into the ground around the fire. But of the six Ruby could see, only three were in use – including her own.

Chained to the stake directly to her left was Jaune's unconscious body, his face a bloody mess and his nose clearly broken. The other used stake was the second on Ruby's right, a man who only had one arm sat upright with his head hung, but the young Huntress could tell from his posture that the man must've been awake, listening to the bandits chatter around the campfire.

First, they had been found by a Minitour and now they had been captured by bandits. If they last few days had been different, Ruby might tell herself that things couldn't get worse. Instead, with all that had happened, she just questioned what would be the next thing to go wrong.

There was no sign of Nora or Ren so hopefully, they had avoided capture. It would at least be a small win. Any short-lived hope she might have had though was offset by another absence. Ruby searched desperately, craning her neck against her shackles but no matter how many times she looked back and forth the scene did not change.

There was no sign of Qrow.

The urge to be sick was overwhelming.

There was a slight crunch of dirt behind her and the sound of a canteen rattling. Twisting against her bindings, Ruby looked up to see a bandit had come to check on her. He probably wasn't much older than she was, a skinny kid out of his depth. His skin was dark and hair ghostly white and cut into a long mohawk, dressed in baggy, dirty black overalls and white wifebeater shirt, cobbled together pieces of old mismatched armour for some vain attempt at protection.

All things considered, he looked awfully apologetic as he gestured with the canteen he was holding. "Sorry about this," he murmured, "you should probably drink some of this though. It's just water." He added hastily, seeing Ruby glower at him as best she could - she wasn't exactly an intimidating person at the best of times.

He gestured again but Ruby didn't want anything from this guy. But as he offered her a third time she realised just how truly thirsty she was. Hungry too. When was the last time she actually ate? After spending so much time unconscious the past few days had blurred into one. So, she relented and accepted the offered drink, even if she was being fed like a baby.

"Take it slow," the bandit quickly retracted the canteen, "You don't want to drink it all to fast and make yourself ill, kid."

Ruby did her best to glare again at the bandit for his kid slight, but whilst everything had hurt before, now she just felt numb and yet somehow heavy. Every little movement took everything she had. There must've been something in the water. She should have known, damn it. But when the bandit offered her a little more she didn't refuse. She doubted it was poison; if they wanted her dead they'd had ample chance to kill her. Most likely some sort of Aura suppressant and it was already in her system so she might as well stay hydrated.

"Where is my uncle?" Ruby tried to sound demanding, but she sounded horse and oh-so-small in that moment.

"He's with Raven right now," Wait, Raven? _Yang's mother_? "She's got a job for him. You and your friend are here to make sure he does as he's told." There was a clear note of shame in the admission but it was impossible to tell the exact cause of it. It didn't matter though if these bandits that included Yang's birth mother wanted Qrow to do some sort of mission for them then they'd have treated him.

He was alive. In trouble, but alive. It was close enough to good news to lift her heart with hope – if only for a moment.

"They've put me in charge of taking care of you," the bandit explained as he scratched the back of his head, "Raven doesn't think you're exactly good incentivises for Qrow if you're both dead. I'm trying to get you some food but nobody really wants to spare what little they've got for a pair of hostages, y'know?"

"Thank you," Ruby said weakly, letting her gaze drop, "for saving my uncle's life." The bandit said nothing, but he shifted awkwardly. When she looked back up with silver eyes to question him further, hoping to get someone to look at her leg and Jaune's nose Ruby saw her captor had been about to speak before a shadow appeared, looming over the young bandit before striking, grasping him around the throat.

"What do you think you're doing, Sheep?" The bandit was yanked to his feet, Ruby's gaze following him to find the one responsible was the same woman who had attacked Jaune back in Kuroyuri. By the light of the fire, Ruby could tell that this wasn't Raven Branwen but that was about all she knew. "Telling the girl our whole plan now, are you?"

The bandit now called Sheep dropped the canteen with a clatter, hands flying to his throat to try and wrestle away the woman's grip as she choked him from behind. A few of the other members of the tribe who had been in the area had all stopped to look on, some jeering as Sheep suffered. Nobody made any move to stop the woman. The unknown prisoner looked up, catching Ruby's eye for a moment but the man stayed silent, looking away quickly.

" _Harimau_ …!" Sheep rasped before the woman realised him with a disgusted grunt. The male bandit dropped like a stone, crashing to his knees as he gasped for air, Harimau merely gave him a swift kick to the stomach with one of her metallic legs. There was clearly no love between these two bandits. Or between Sheep and the rest of the tribe as others just laughed at the young man's plight.

"You're a stain on this tribe, Sheep." Harimau squatted in front of Ruby with a shit-eating grin on her scarred face whilst Sheep rolled away with a whimper, trying to avoid further abuse.

In that moment, before the large bonfire as this woman cast her into shadow like a predator before its prey, Ruby would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified by the murderous look which stared her down from over the top of dark glasses. Burning orange eyes narrowed as Harimau's smile became cruel – taunting as she reached behind herself to grab something.

After a moment Harimau pulled a weapon out from behind her back. "Nice _toy_ you got here," _Crescent Rose…!_ Ruby's eyes went wide as the bandit taunted her with her own weapon, resting the weapon in its sniper form on her shoulder. "Think I'll keep it for myself. Much nicer than that tacky ass rifle I used to wander around with."

"Take your hands off _Crescent Rose_!" Ruby shouted as she struggled against her restraints to no avail. She had to get _Crescent Rose_ away from that horrible woman before she could seriously damage her baby. If something happened to _Crescent Rose_ out in the middle of wherever they were there was no telling when she'd be able to repair the weapon.

"I don't recall saying you could speak," Harimau said as she pulled back one arm before punching Ruby in the face. The blow might have hurt if Ruby wasn't already aching all over. It'd leave a bruise, she could tell that much. Ruby knew from the look on Harimau's face that bandit woman had hoped for an outburst, even now she looked almost gleeful at the idea of baiting a second from the young Huntress. This woman was looking for any excuse to hurt her.

Around her Ruby could hear a few other bandits laugh, some imitating her as they mocked the fact _Crescent Rose_ had a name at all.

" _Unfortunately_ Raven needs you alive so Qrow will be a good boy," Harimau leaned in to whisper in her ear, her words like venom, "but we _both_ know he's not going to do as he's told. Qrow never does. And when he inevitably screws up, know that I'll be there to serve as your executioner as punishment for his transgressions. I'm _really_ looking forward to it."

Ruby could only stare with wide eyes, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. She didn't know what had caused this woman to have such a vindictive attitude towards her, but she didn't care about that. All she cared about was that yet again this was all her fault. First, she had dragged her friends into a fight they weren't ready for, then get them all and her uncle all nearly killed _repeatedly_ , caused their group to divide and gotten them captured because she was too weak to help fight off the bandits.

Now these people wanted Uncle Qrow to do something awful and they were using her to make sure he did it and who knew where Ren and Nora where. They could be dead for all Ruby knew, and their deaths would be on her hands.

She couldn't do anything right.

"Don't cry," Harimnau spat on the ground at her feet, "I'll send you to your whore mother soon enough."

Ruby's head snapped up, but any words she might have had died in her mouth. This woman knew her mother? It was clear from the gleeful expression on Harimau's face that Ruby's reaction of wide-eyed shock and tears was exactly what Harimau had been hoping for.

"Harimau," A new woman stood a few paces behind Harimau, having emerged from the small ring of bandits that had gathered to watch their comrade taunt Ruby. She was older than Sheep but younger than Harimau, maybe somewhere in her twenties with her head almost cleanshaven, dressed in greys and blacks, a large bird tattoo covering her left forearm. Many of the other bandits were giving her a wide berth. "Are you done yet?"

" _Vernal_ ," Harimau said with a drawn-out note of distaste in her voice, but as the augmented woman looked over her shoulder at the latest arrival it was clear that this was not someone she could push around like Sheep or perhaps some of the other bandits. This new woman, Vernal, demanded respect as all the other members of the tribe who had gathered to watch Harimau torment Ruby suddenly stood a little straighter or tried to disappear without being noticed. "The hell do you want?"

"Raven wants the big bad wolf," Vernal said, jerking her head towards the one-armed man bound to the other stake. The man gave a grunt of acknowledgement - clearly, he'd been expecting to be dragged of sooner rather than later. "Be a good girl and take him off his leash and take him to Raven." The was a smug air of authority to Vernal's words as she spoke, she held herself with an aura of untouchables.

Harimau glared, the desire to lash out clear in her face but said nothing as she stood from her position. The augmented bandit made an obvious effort to hit Vernal as she stormed past but made no further move attack the woman Ruby guessed was her superior… in whatever way bandit tribes had superiors.

Ruby watched Harimau walk over to the other stake, loosening the restraints before dragging the one-armed man by the collar in the direction of the largest tent in the camp. Meanwhile Vernal moved to stand over her, casting a look of disgust at Sheep who had crawled a few feet away, massaging his throat.

"You really are a spineless coward, Sheep," Vernal said haughtily, folding her arms over her chest as she examined Ruby. Unlike Harimau this woman did not look at Ruby with anything other than disinterest. "I'd be lying if I said this type of thing was common for us, but we need a job done and your uncle is the only one who can get it done for us. Just don't cause any trouble and we can all part ways and never see each other again once this is over with."

Ruby just dropped her gaze, too defeated to rise to the unspoken challenge. Vernal made a sound, maybe one of disappointment, but turned on her heel with one last commanded for Sheep to get back to work. After a moment Sheep's weak coughing faded into the distance, leaving Ruby alone aside from the unconscious Jaune, the crackling sound of the fire, her overwhelming guilt and the truth that all of this could have been avoided if she hadn't tried so hard to be the hero she wasn't.

* * *

 **Qrow Branwen**

It was with a hiss that he awoke, something pricking the skin of his neck before his eyes fluttered open. It took a moment, but his surroundings came into focus and he found hell oddly familiar. It made sense he supposed, that hell would take the form of the place he hated most and the inside of his 'mother's' old command tent was certainly up there. Guess that meant there was some truth to Oz's joke about how hell was personally tailored to each victim.

"Finally," _Ah crap_ , he thought as a voice from behind cut the silence, "you're awake," Raven said as she emerged from behind him to stand in front of the chair in which he was bound. Maybe this wasn't hell after all – but then again, the lantern hanging above his twin sure as hell light her to look like the demonic creature he knew her to be.

He supposed that he should have known better; Raven showing up out of nowhere and saving his life was going to land him in a situation like this. The only question left was how deep was the shit he now found himself in. Knowing his sister, it'd likely be deep. He'd come to realise he'd be better off dead soon enough.

"I'm starting to think that hell would have been preferable to this," Qrow quipped, looking around the tent proper now as he realised this wasn't the literal hell and he was, somehow, still very much alive. Raven hadn't changed too much although that didn't surprise him given the reverence she'd had for their 'mother'. If the woman could be called that. The whole place looked a little more used since he'd last seen it and Raven had added a few things here to help make it less spartan but what caught his attention was the fact that he and his dear sister weren't alone.

He could see three others scattered around the tent. Two of them he knew all too well.

Sazen Baiken was a curvaceous woman a few years his senior even if she didn't look her age. Her hair was a wild mane of pink that matched the colour of her eyes, pulled into an unkempt ponytail that fell past her waist. Dressed _loosely_ in a traditional white Mistralian kimono with black and red details so as to better show off her bountiful cleavage, a black jacket hung off her shoulders like a cape, held fast by a red tassel. Her sword was sheathed on her hips, one hand resting on the pommel as she leaned against one of the tent's support beams, taking a drag from the long smoking pipe she held in her other hand.

The second was Nishiki Momo – another of Raven's lieutenants – who would be mistaken for a woman by most but Qrow knew better. The androgynous man had violet hair tied in an elaborate bun with decretive hair needles and little beads, sharp blue eyes twinkled, highlighted by dark eyeliner and lipstick the man wore as part of his guise. Momo also wore a kimono, although it was far louder than Baiken's, a pink and red number with white flower embroidery and exposed shoulders and a dark violet turtleneck that matched his hair. The man looked like he hadn't aged a day since Qrow last saw him, he still had those stupid platform sandals for crying out loud.

"Long time no see, boo," Momo said in his simpering voice and Qrow had to shake his head before he cast one last glance at Raven's third companion. This must've been the Spring Maiden – she looked to be the right age. It would make sense, Raven would want to keep her close by unless there had been a shake-up inside of Raven's inner circle that had killed off Byakuya and this was his replacement.

A part of Qrow kind of hoped the man was dead. Good riddance. "Momo, you haven't changed. And Baiken, glad to see you're still kicking. I figured an old hag like you would've been long dead by now."

"Now is not the time for your sass, little brother," Raven said in a demanding tone, clearly impatient to have this coming conversation. For her part, Baiken seemed more amused by Qrow's attitude than offended and Momo just laughed to himself.

"Uh-huh," Qrow grunted, turning to look back at his sister with a glare, "care to explain?"

Raven didn't reply at first, pulling up a makeshift chair and sitting before Qrow. There was a long moment as the two twins stared at one another. Even with so little contact throughout the past two decades, Qrow could see how worn down his sister looked. Not just physically either. Something had happened since she'd visited him in that bar not all that long ago.

Why else would she willing bring him into the tribe's camp, to its very heart.

"After our last talk, before the incident with the Minitour," Raven added, probably guessing Qrow had a snarky comment lined up, "I returned to the tribe's true camp and some rather disturbing news. A recently accepted member of the tribe turned out to be one of Ozpin's agents who had found us and infiltrated our ranks. How he found us he refuses to say."

"One of Oz's agents?" Qrow repeated, eyes narrowing as he became hyper-suspicious of his sister's words. Outside of the inner circle of the Brotherhood, everyone involved in the war with Salem had been handpicked by Ozpin and carefully vetted; they were vigorously trained and sworn to secrecy but kept on a need to know bases so if one did talk the damage would be minimal. His sister's choice of words also intrigued him - home camp had been compromised, meaning they must've been at one of the tribe's backup camps scattered across the Mistralian wildland known as Nowhere."The hell would one of Oz's people want with _you_ , Raven? What the hell were they doing out here in the middle of Nowhere?"

"Not me, Qrow." Raven shook her head before very deliberately looking towards the entrance of the tent where the young woman stood. The one Qrow didn't know. "They joined this camp under the guise of being an ally looking to carve out a living here on the fringes of Nowhere. After a week they turned on us and attempted to take the Spring Maiden by force when I was paying you a visit. By the time I was finally able to subdue him when I returned he'd killed six of my people – including Byakuya."

"Say again?"

"You heard me the first time, Qrow."

"Shit," Qrow swore under his breath. Just what the hell had been going on? Most of the Brotherhood's agents had been at Beacon when it fell and were accounted for – all of them were assisting Glynda in protecting Vale and clearing the Grimm out of Beacon now. Those not accounted for had been presumed dead. "Why would one of the Brotherhood do that?"

"A story best told by him." Raven turned her head towards the Spring Maiden, "Vernal, have the mutt brought in."

Vernal nodded, ducking out of the tent as Qrow watched her go. The Brotherhood existed to protect the Maidens, so why would one try and take this Vernal woman by force? Whilst Qrow was pained to admit it, a Maiden of ten years would be a serious threat on her own, but if backed by Raven and the tribe? Qrow pitied the fool Salem sent after the Spring Maiden.

But wait, Raven had said subdued, and Vernal had gone to fetch this prisoner who was supposed to have worked for Ozpin. But… Raven would have gutted enemies for lesser crimes. How was this Hunter still alive?

It took a long moment of waiting in silence before the flap of the tent was brushed aside again. _Oh no_ , Qrow thought as his eyes flew to the entrance to see another ghost from his past. Harimau. "Son of a bitch…" he cursed his luck – of course, she'd be too stubborn to just accept her fate and die after their last confrontation like any normal person would have done.

"At least you know what you are," Harimau hissed jerking her arm and throwing her prisoner into the tent. "Long time no see, you bastard."

Qrow wasn't listening though as the fear crept up his spine as realisation dawned on him. If Raven had him prisoner that must've meant she had Ruby and Jaune too, something that hadn't occurred to him earlier with his mind being so preoccupied trying to work out what his sister wanted from him.

"Raven… where is Ruby?"

"She's our prisoner, along with her blonde friend," Raven said confirming his fears, "but they're alive. They _will_ stay that way provided you do as your told." Qrow turned away from staring wide-eyed at Harimau to glare at his sister but Raven was too busy staring down Harimau to notice him. The last part had been directed specifically at the augmented bandit. "That will be all, Harimau. Leave."

The bandit woman just gave Qrow a disgusted look, almost begging him to try or say something. But when he didn't she just gave a disgruntled noise, turning on her heel and leaving in a huff. It was then that Qrow noticed the woman had _Crescent Rose_ slung across her back.

Oh, he was going to kill her this time.

When he was done with her Harimau would wish Summer was around to talk him down into sparing her life this time.

"Really, Raven? You'd use Summer's daughter as a hostage to get your way?"

"Given the current situation," Raven spoke evenly, but it was clear even she didn't like what she was admitting to, "Yes. I _am_."

In that moment, all the rage and fear he felt overwhelmed him and Qrow let himself slump in his seat. Just what had they got tangled up in that Raven was willing to go this far? She'd use her best friend's daughter as a bargaining chip to buy his abidance.

"Understand, Qrow," Raven snapped her fingers and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Baiken and Momo both move to pick up the prisoner on the floor of the tent, "do as you're told and when you return to us I'll release both Ruby and the blonde boy alive and intact to you and we can go our separate ways and _never_ see each other again. Now," Raven stood from her seat and stepped to one side before Baiken and Momo dropped young man into the seat where his sister had been. "Talk."

The Hunter let his head hang, refusing to look up at Qrow until Raven tugged on his mess of salt and pepper hair that looked in desperate need of a cut and wash. Had it not been for familiar baby blue eyes Qrow might not have recognised the bristly bearded, bruised and swollen face that was caked in dirt. Looking down Qrow saw the young man was missing his left arm, Raven probably having removed his prosthetic as a safety measure. Wearing worn, ragged and tattered black pants and a torn blue hoodie and white tank top. The black and red leather hooded long-coat Amber had gifted him with was nowhere to be seen. Probably taken by one of the tribe as he'd would never willingly part with it.

" _Rowan_?" Qrow asked, a little unsure if it really was the young Atlesian operative. The young Hunter nodded weakly. "You look like shit."

Now Raven's inability to kill this Brotherhood operative made sense. Rowan's Semblance _did_ make him a lot more durable than most Huntsmen.

Rowan Lupus had been fresh out of Atlas at the time Ozpin had recruited. Oz's interest in the boy's Semblance resulted in him being charged with protecting the new Fall Maiden; Amber Faraday. It had made sense at the time as Rowan's team, Wisteria, had been the ones to discovered Amber by chance on their last mission before graduating. For two years, Rowan had been Amber's protector before a phantom from STRQ's past, a particular nasty Grimm, known as the Leshrac had taken his arm and left him unable to fulfil his duty.

Qrow had been appointed as his replacement and taken over protecting the Fall Maiden. Not long after she was attacked and left comatose with a part of her powers stolen.

"Clearly, you've not seen a mirror," Rowan replied in a voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in days, "or you wouldn't be talking." His comment earnt him a swift backhanded slap from Raven, who looked irate at how slow things were going. Clearly, time was not something they had a lot of.

"Enough!" Raven snapped impatiently, "Start talking. Tell him what you told me."

Rowan glared at Raven for a moment, killing intent in his gaze, but he wasn't doing much without his dominant arm and his Aura suppressed. Grunting, the Brotherhood operative turned to look at Qrow.

"Tell me, do you remember when I came to you after Ozpin told me about what happened to Amber?" Rowan asked, waiting for Qrow to nod.

"You wanted everything I could give you on her attackers." Qrow recalled, frowning, "wasn't much to go off. You'd just be cleared to leave rehab but still had a long of therapy to do before you were cleared for duty. Ozpin didn't want you running off chasing dead ends when you were still healing."

"What you gave me was more than enough." Qrow's eyes narrowed. After he and Rowan had talked Ozpin had stepped in as he wasn't willing to let Rowan waste time on something he saw as fruitless and told Rowan to stand down and finish healing so he could be reassigned. Rowan had left and struck out on his own that same night. "Asides from weapons there's one thing I do really well and that's track people. I can't tell you how many times I almost lost the trail but just before the Vytal Festival the trail took me to Haven.

"The group responsible for attacking Beacon got in pretending to be students from Haven," Qrow said for him, knowing full well this part of the story.

"I was able to dig out the files of those 'students' when they I saw them compete in the Festival," Rowan nodded before pausing, "I really wish I hadn't." There was a note of shame in Rowan's voice now, Qrow let his eyes leave the slumped Hunter in front of him and travel to his sister.

"You'll understand soon enough." Was all Raven said.

After a moment of silence, his sister grabbed the back of Rowan's head, jerking it up and forcing him to look at Qrow and continue to the story.

"Qrow," Rowan's voice shook, "All of the students who infiltrated Haven and then Beacon only had one thing that distinguished them from any other student files. All their application documents and files were overseen and signed off by Professor Leonardo Lionheart personally – the headmaster of Haven forged their transcripts for them."

Qrow sat in silence, trying to wrap his head around what was being said. Was Leo a traitor? Sure, Jimmy had never much trusted him and Qrow himself found the Haven headmaster a little twitchy but Ozpin had trusted the man and in the end, that had been enough. Had the former headmaster been wrong?

"You're sure…?"

"Qrow, after I confronted him about it he had members of the staff take me down and threw me in prison to rot until after Beacon fell."

"So, what's all this got to do with Spring?" Qrow asked as said Maiden returned to the tent. He recalled Raven saying Rowan had attempted to capture Vernal. "How the hell did you even end up here if Leo caught you?"

"...We cut a deal."

"You did _what_?"

"Lionheart told me if I could track down and bring back the Spring Maiden then he'd give me the very thing I'd left Ozpin and the Brotherhood to find."

"Amber's attackers." Qrow snarled as his rage returned – first Rowan had the brass to tell him that Leonardo Lionheart was a traitor, then admit he'd made a deal with him. A deal that would only make things worse for those who opposed Salem just so he could pursue his quest for vengeance.

"Lionheart inserted a tracker into my left arm and put me to work." Well, that explained where his arm went. Raven must've destroyed his arm when she found out about the tracker. Rowan willingly lifted his head for the first time since Vernal had returned, his face a portrait of shame. Good, at least he had the good sense to know how much he'd screwed up. How bad a spot he'd put them in. "I didn't exactly have much to go off, but when I want to find someone I usually can. It was the only way to find the people who killed Amber. I couldn't just let them get away with what they did to her, Qrow. I was _so_ pissed at Ozpin for his willingness to just find the next suitable candidate to unload the rest of Amber's power too. He was going to cast her aside like trash without even trying to save her!

"At the time it was a no-brainer decision. Amber wasn't my mission, Qrow, she was my _friend_ \- someone I treasured and I wasn't there when she needed me." Rowan said, almost as though he was pleading for Qrow to understand. The older Huntsman just looked at him like the trash he was. "Ozpin couldn't have cared less about her. In my rage, I took the deal without a second thought. It took me months but I found the Spring Maiden."

Everyone looked to Vernal, who glared at Rowan. "I _always_ find my man." Rowan hung his head again. "But it didn't turn out anything like I thought it would. When I made my move after Raven left one night I was certain I could capture Vernal without much trouble. But then Raven returned - that's when I knew I couldn't win. In my rage and despair, the beast got off its leash. I don't really remember much after that until I woke up in chains at a different campsite."

"You're scum, Lupus." Rowan did not argue with Qrow. "What does all this have to do with me?" he suspected he already knew, but he needed to hear Raven say it.

"Ever since Rowan found us we've had to say on the move," Raven said. The tribe had several different camps for situations like this so they were harder to catch. Raven would only act as she was if they had run out of places to run to avoid Lionheart and Salem though - and Salem must've been damn close again if Raven would use Ruby as a hostage to get her way. Their enemies had their scent and Rowan would only be the first harbinger and those that followed would be far worse. "You, my dear brother, are going to send Salem a message on our behalf and show her we are not to be trifled with. You Qrow, are going to kill Leonardo Lionheart for me."

* * *

 **Song:** _Bad Moon Rising_ as performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival


	5. V – Anthem of Our Dying Day

A/N: Before we continue I'd like to say that after finally getting back to this story and doing my revisions and posting new content towards the end of last year real life happened and writing took a backseat and RWBY canon marched on and pretty much gunned down a lot of what I had planned for this version of the story (I've also not seen episode 12 yet but I'm sure will continue the trend set by volume 5).

A lot of these next four chapters were rough drafts around the time of episode 4/5 and whilst I've worked in details revealed since then I decided to just pursue my plan instead of adjusting things again to account for new information revealed in volume 5. It'll be obvious where and when I adhere to information given in volume 5 and where I don't. So saddle in ladies in gentlemen we're going off the rails and into the unknown with this alternate universe.

Also new title, which I will one day explain, but not today, yay! Anyways, enough of me and on with the story.

* * *

 **The Heart of Winter**

 **V** – _Anthem of Our Dying Day_

* * *

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Nothing.

After weeks of travel from Patch to the middle of Nowhere, Yang finally found the Branwen tribe camp. Deserted. It probably had been that way for some time. From the looks of things, they had left in a hurry. There wasn't a soul in sight inside the timber log walls of the camp.

Yang could only clench her fists tight as she wandered into the centre of the deserted camp, glaring at the slightly elevated platform where her mother's tent had no doubt once sat. Her father had told her where to find her mother, and that Raven's Semblance could send her to Qrow – to _Ruby_.

But here she was at the end of the road and there was _nothing_.

Even if it was metaphorical Yang could see the path to Ruby crumble away into dust before her eyes. What made it all the worse was no she had nothing to go off – the blonde now had no idea how to find anyone she was looking for whilst being stranded in the middle of Nowhere. Her only lead was up in smoke.

With no one around to see Yang let her own Semblance lose as she screamed in blind fury. She grabbed at whatever was nearby – an old abandoned crate, and threw it, smashing it to vent her rage - rage that had been building for some time. Just one crate wasn't enough to calm her, storming over to a huddling collection of other forgotten crates she let it out. Every ounce of her being screaming to smash, to break. It wouldn't do much in the long run, but in the moment it helped. A little.

As the last crate shattered with a loud _thwack_ and then a _crack_ the blonde took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself because even over the sound of her own screams she could hear the crackle of her burning hair. She didn't need to see her eyes to know they were a bloody red. She needed to get herself under control before the local Grimm came to see her one-woman demolition act.

 _All this way, and for_ nothing _!_ She seethed. First the fight with Mercury that had made her look like a monster, and her teammates doubting her, _Blake_ doubting her. Then the attack on Beacon, _Adam_ , her team scattering, and now this. Yang cursed herself, realising her left hand had gone to clutch the place where prosthetic met flesh as she shook; whether it was because of rage or something else the brawler didn't want to know. Didn't want to admit.

Speaking of arms though, Yang blinked as she spotted another prosthetic arm lying on the ground not too far away. Half buried under the remains of one of the broken crates which Yang had smashed. She'd have ignored it, if not for the strange blinking light coming from it.

Looking around in case this was some sort of trap, Yang made sure the area was clear before she moved over to the arm and squatted down to pick it up. It took a moment to brush aside the splintered wood of the destroyed crate, picking up an old backpack and leather coat as well. Tilting her head, she realised the coat was too large for her and tossed it aside with the bag. She could dig through it later.

Admittedly, Yang wasn't the gearhead that Ruby was, but she could tell this was an entirely different kind of prosthetic to her own when she eventually retrieved the arm. Whilst her own arm was steal plating, and wires and bolts the arm she held felt like some sort of layer synthetic skin and carbon fibre plating with minimal amounts of steel. Holding it to the light, Yang could see some of the arm's inner workings as she turned it over and flipped open a latch on the forearm – dust regulators and almost four times the amount nerves receptors that were in Yang's own arm. Plus a strange blinking beacon welded into the inside.

Whistling she flipped the latch closed again before checking where the arm connected to flesh. The shoulder; which meant extensive work had been done to properly attach this and make sure all the nerve receptors worked properly. Tracing her fingers along the forearm Yang just about dropped the thing when the fingers gave a twitch. _Damn the thing still works_ , the blonde thought in awe.

Just who the hell had built this? It certainly wasn't military. This thing must've cost at least three times the amount as Yang's arm to produce because whilst Yang's new arm was meant to help her fight and function again this kind of arm had been built to take the place of flesh like nothing had happened. If the skin wasn't so clearly synthetic and the obvious plating in places it might pace for the real thing.

 _This must be experimental_ , the brawler said as she gave the arm another once over. It was a left arm, which sucked, it was also made for someone taller and broader than her if she had to guess. Still, if she held onto the arm and took it to the right person.

Yang's wondering thoughts jumped ship when she heard footsteps behind her and the jangle of spurs. They stopped a few feet away, allowing Yang to look over her shoulder and see who had just walked into the camp.

Lilac eyes narrowed as Yang stood up and turned around.

There before her was an older woman, probably in her thirties, dressed like she was straight out of a Spruce Willis western. She had it all from the tanned pants and leather chaps and spurred boots to the sleeves shirt worn beneath a sky-blue and white poncho that hung off to the right, falling to the side like a cape. A bandolier was slung over her left shoulder, loaded with green dust based shotgun shells that were probably meant for the sword-gun that slept in its sheath on her left hip. A combination between an old Mistralian longsword and a sawed-off, double barrel shotgun.

Even with her Aura Yang wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a point-blank shot. She didn't want to take the chance this woman would give her a choice. Instinctively her feet parted and she squared her shoulders properly, ready to defend herself.

"I ain't lookin' for a fight, Blondie." The woman said before reaching up to pull down the poncho collar that covered much of her face as a gesture of goodwill, before holding her hands up after pushing the brim of her tanned coloured Josey Wales out of her face.

Yang eventually mimicked the gesture of raising her arms.

Even if she had no idea who this woman was, she was older and clearly a veteran of the system and might have answers as to where Raven and the tribe had gone. Not the kind of person Yang was looking to pick a fight with if she could avoid it – especially when she'd foolishly left her new gauntlets with Bumblebee. A fight was the last thing she'd expected with how deserted the place had been on her arrival.

"So…" Yang started, letting her arms drop when it became clear neither woman wanted to move, "just who are you, Cowgirl?" Yang demanded as she folded her arms over her chest, settling for a weak glare over the tops of her aviators.

"Sora Hart," the woman said in reply, keeping her cool, "I'm a Huntress from Mistral and I'm looking for a friend of mine. His name is Rowan Lupus and I want you to tell me what you know about where he is."

"What makes you think _I_ know anything?"

"Well," Sora said, rather bluntly, pointing with her right hand, whilst both her arms were covered in tattoos could see the faint sheen of scales running up and down her arms, a reptilian Faunus then, "you're holding his arm there."

Yang blinked, looking down to see she was indeed still holding onto the prosthetic arm. Not really in the mood to play games the blonde just confessed to what she knew, tossing the arm to Sora with little care.

Sora took a step forward to catch the prosthetic, giving it a quick look as though trying to see if someone had tampered with it. "Well shit," she swore before sighing. The Mistralian Huntress set the arm aside on top of one of the few crates Yang hadn't smashed before turning to leave.

"Oi," Yang shouted after her, following the blue haired woman, "just what are you doing out here anyway?"

"As I said, Blondie," Sora looked over her shoulder with a bored look, "I'm looking for my friend. He was sent on a mission by Professor Lionheart some months ago and failed to report in for his last check-in so I was sent to find him."

"What kind of mission would bring him out here?"

"Don't know, don't care." Sora shook her head, "All I know is that Professor Lionheart considered it a mission of great importance but something has gone wrong and now I gotta report back and tell him that I didn't find Rowan. I did find a –"

"–Yang Xiao Long–"

"–Instead, though. Don't suppose you've got any medical training, do ya?"

"What?" Today had certainly been a strange day and it was only bound to get stranger it seemed. Of the members of RWBY only Weiss had paid much attention during Professor Peach's lectures on first aid and medical care.

"I've been in the area for a few days," Sora said as she turned back to face Yang properly, pulling out a flask as she did so, "in that time I ain't seen no one else until the day before yesterday. One of them fancy Atlesian cargo ships came crashing down after thinking it could outrun the local Lancers. It crashed not too far from here. The pilot was killed in the crash but the only other person on the ship survived with some injuries. They're beyond what I can treat and I don't want to move the little lady as it might worsen her condition."

Yang could only scowl when Sora opened the flask and took a long drink. She was used to seeing Qrow do the same but this woman was out on a mission and still drinking bothered her somewhat Maybe the poor girl would've been better off if she wasn't being treated by someone knocking back booze so freely.

"Don't give me that look," Sora snorted, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before stowing her flask, "how about you try surviving ten years as a Huntress without succumbing to the bottle. Then you can judge me."

"You said a girl survived the crash, right?" Yang said after a moment, deciding not to peruse _that_ conversation further. Sora just nodded, jerking in the direction of the woods before turning on her heel.

"Camps this way, Blondie," so Sora left and Yang had no choice but to follow for now. There really was no other option; she could loiter around like Sora had been doing but it didn't look that had worked for the other woman. Maybe, just maybe this woman had run into Ruby in her travels. If nothing else Sora could help her get to Haven frome here as Ruby's letter said that was where she was headed. Yang was confident that Ruby would make it to Mistral. She had to be now that It was the only kind of lead she had.

Besides, maybe Yang could help the crash survivor. All she had to do was try and remember all that stuff Weiss had made her sit down and study that one time. Easy enough, right?

* * *

 **Lie Ren**

Ren couldn't even muster a scream as he was slammed into the ground by the Nuckelavee. The Grimm had been utterly unfazed by anything he and Nora had thrown at it so far. Nora's dust grenades had slowed it down for a while, but overall the mythical Grimm had kept toying with them.

A few feet behind him, Nora was trying to pull herself out of the side of a wall the Nuckelavee had thrown her into. Her aura gave a slight crackle before it buzzed briefly but held out. Given Nora's condition, it wouldn't survive another hit. His own Aura was already gone. It might've still been active had he not been hit by the bolt of white lighting. The same bolt had somehow scrambled his Semblance which left him with _StromFlower_ at his side and they hadn't exactly had ammo to spare _before_ this battle and getting into melee with the Grimm without his Aura was suicide.

If Jaune and Ruby had been with them then maybe they could've at least fought off the Nuckelavee. He'd noticed how the two halves of the Grimm could not move in tandem together but when it was only he and Nora the impossible reach of the Nuckelavee's arms was as all it needed to deal with them.

 _There must be something I'm missing,_ Ren thought as he did his best to run around the creature's flank, firing off what ammo he could spare to draw its attention away from Nora. She might have Aura left but she'd also take much harder hits and the Nuckelavee seemed to sense blood in the water because it ignored him, its rider slumping as the horse walked forward ominously. Slow. Deliberate. Mocking his inability to do anything.

 _No_. Throwing caution to the wind, Ren threw himself towards the Grimm with reckless abandon in hopes of drawing its focus. But his charge was meet with a hove to the chest. Thankfully the hit wasn't nearly as hard as it should've been. If the Grimm had wanted to it could have caved his chest in with a strong kick. It wanted him to watch what was about to happen.

And that was all Ren _could_ do.

He was on his arms and knees, hacking for air as everything _burned_. It took what little strength he had to look up and see the Nuckelavee stand over the now free Nora, the rider rising once more. He could only stare in horror, unable to call out to Nora as she scrambled for _Magnhild_ as the rider's head did a full hundred and eighty to look at him, it horrible mouth pulling up into a dark mockery of a smile before it turned back to his partner.

"Bring it, Chuckles." Nora hissed in defiance as she glared up at the Grimm, now gripping her weapon in its hammer mode. The Grimm just let out a shrieking cry before it lifted both arms into the sky then brought them down on Nora.

Yet, somehow, it the last possible second a newcomer appeared and crashed into Nora, knocking out of the path of the Grimm's attack as the raised a glimmering, circular shield of white, gold and green to block the attack. Armoured in smooth, interlocking and layered white plate armour with green accents and matching skin-tight bodysuit. A white and gold helm with small, elk-like antlers and narrow, glowing green eyes and a short green tassel sticking out of the back. Then Ren saw it a moment later, the knight's right pauldron bore the emblem of Vale. A Knight of the Veil. Ren thought as the world seemed to stand still.

Help.

A stroke of luck at long last.

The Nuckelavee let the rider's head tilt curiously, demonic grin dropping at this sudden twist. But its shriek of rage was met with a cry from the knight – whatever they said was drowned out but the sudden whirl of a projectile that crashed into the Nuckelavee's flank from on high.

The flash of red hit the Grimm so quickly Ren almost missed it. He didn't miss the Grimm being knocked off balance as the projectile expanded before imploding in a loud _thrum_ that almost deafened him as the winds suddenly blew and rubble and dust were whisked into the air as the ground cracked and a crater was left were the Nuckelavee had once been.

For all the flash and pomp neither half of the Grimm seemed too heavily affected by the blast as it regained its balance some ways off. Smoke fell of it, old armaments melting into its hide, burning white hot and the riders masked was cracked but the damage seemed superficial at best.

 _Just what is this Grimm made of…?_ Ren cursed as the Nuckelavee screamed in what seemed to by rage.

"I think you only made it angrier, Major." The knight, in an unmistakably feminine voice, who saved Nora said into the air as they stood over the redheaded girl, shield up and a long lance in hand, gold and white with several green dust veins running below the surface that shone brightly in the poor light.

The response must've come over some sort of short-range radio because Ren didn't hear it but the knight nodded along to unheard words. As the rider shifted, arms rising to attack once more the knight took off into a sprint as she charged the Grimm head on. The woman showed no hint of fear, deflecting the Grimm's attack upwards with her shield as used her lance to attack the Nuckelavee. Against any other Grimm the weapon might help keep enemies at bay but the snaking arms of the rider kept the knight on the defensive as she spent most of her time blocking attacks.

Her own attacks seemed fairly ineffective as the reach of the Nuckelavee let it knock away the lance any time it came close. Ren could not understand why anyone would choose a lance as their weapon of choice until he realised that the weapon was building up a charge. After the knight sidestepped a particularly nasty attack that left a small crater in the ground, she threw her shield like a killer frisbee that actually collided with the rider's face, causing it to recoil as it shrieked, hands retracting to clutch its mask.

Taking the opening the female knight thrust her lance forward in a mighty push that sent a hurricane created by green dust whirling forward. The whirlwind tore into the Grimm with a hiss as it tore up just about everything in its path, Ren could even fell it tug on him from across the square. The great tree groaned as it lurched, partially coming up at the roots as the Nuckelavee went crashing through the wall around the square and found itself pinned against one of the larger buildings surrounding it.

"Anytime, Major!" The woman shouted from across the square as sprinted to recover her wayward shield as the Nuckelavee recovered from the blast.

"Ren!" Nora skidded to a stop next to him, embracing him before she turned to look as their saviour scoped up her shield. "Were actually being rescued by Knights of the Veil!" Once more the female knight was ready to stand before the Grimm, but even with the distance between them, Ren could see the knight was breathing heavily, her knees shaking from having had to hold of the Nuckelavee alone for even a brief moment.

"I'd hold off on the celebration until the Grimm is dealt with, kid." The second knight said as he came running up behind them. This Knight of the Veil was nothing short of a giant, dressed in similarly sleek plate armour designed to help the user move as much as possible with a dark red undersuit, one of his pauldrons marked with the flag of Vale. The knight looked down at them, for a moment, examining them both from behind the glowing red visor of their lion-like helm. Across their back was a sheathed buster blade that gave a loud buzz that clearly meant something. "Finally recharged." the knight muttered.

Ren could only look at Nora in confusion as the knight stepped away from them, jogging to a place where he stood directly in the path of the Nuckelavee.

"Let's see you eat two blasts from Durandal," the second knight hissed as he unsheathed the sword which must've been as large as he was. With a hiss, the blade split down the middle and transformed into a huge crossbow that hummed to life. A ball of concentrated red light whirled to life as the knight raised the weapon and took aim. "Sargent, move!"

"Sir!" the female knight threw herself to the side as the male knight shot another blast of whatever it was from the buster sword turned gigantic crossbow.

It hit the Nuckelavee head-on, throwing it back and off its hooves. It crashed into a tall building behind it, the entire thing came crashing down on top of the Grimm as it shrieked in fury before the wreckage light up like a giant bonfire around it. It took a moment but eventually, the screams died down as the fire began to spread to nearby buildings.

But the Nuckelavee would not let itself die so easily. It rose out of the rubble a second later, still surrounded by the flames as the distant rumble of thunder echoed and lightning flashed. The rain came without further warning but the fire continued to spread through Kuroyuri and the Grimm gave a deafening scream and Ren could only clutch tighter to Nora for a moment. Seeing the monster from his nightmares realised once more amidst fire and smoke he knew nothing but seething rage as he was suddenly back there, all those years ago when he was just a child and his blood boiled.

He would never forget the sight of the Grimm standing in the flames like it was nothing. Breathing heavily, he forced himself to stand, grabbing wildly for StromFlower as all thought of getting out and finding Jaune, Ruby and Qrow disappeared. Even if the thing was still alive, in whatever way the word applied to Grimm, Ren could see it was damaged - burned and hide cracked and the lower jaw of the steed at an odd angle and partially missing. The rider was left with one horn and a partial void where its mask had been destroyed apart from the burning glare of a floating eye.

"Why won't you just die!?" The Nuckelavee was oddly silent. It seemed the sudden rain had cleared the Grimm's mind whilst it had clouded Ren's. Taking one long look at the humans before it, the rider slumped forward and the dark steed turned and walked away as its above normal intelligence told it this was not a fight worth dying over. "No." Ren hissed. "No! Get back here." He ignored Nora's cry for him to stop.

"Stop!" Ren's charge after the retreating Grimm was halted when the female knight grabbed him but the upper arm, holding him back with surprising strength. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"It's injured," Ren shouted at the woman, "if we got after it now we can kill it!" Any other time Ren would be ashamed of himself for losing control when there was so much more at stake here than petty vengeance. Earlier, even though he'd be confronted by the monster that had destroyed his home the encounter with the bandits had kept his head clear, Ruby and Jaune were far more important than the Nuckelavee. But then the fires had started and he was an angry child - a child whose parents had been murdered by a beast but this time he had the power to kill it in return.

Whilst he and Nora hadn't been enough on there own these knights had crippled the Grimm for him. If it was running then it was on the edge. If he could catch it he could kill it.

"At what cost!?" The white and green knight snapped, "You think we can just let some kid run after that _thing_? Crippled or not that is no ordinary Grimm." Ren just shrugged her off before moving to resume his chase.

"Sargent, shut him down before he gets everyone killed! We have to get out of this town before the fires trap us."

"Urgh..." the female knight groaned behind him. "Sorry about this," she said as she grabbed him by the shoulder spinning him around. The last thing Ren recalled from that moment was Nora calling his name as the clouds above flashed with lighting and a gauntleted fist smashing into his face.

* * *

 **Yang Xiao Long**

She'd never thought herself a paranoid person (then Beacon had fallen and she'd lost an arm), but a part of Yang was starting to think Sora was leading her on.

Whilst Sora had wanted to lead her off into unfamiliar woods, she'd watched Yang pointedly whilst she'd gone to fetch some supplies from Bumblebee. The only time she stopped was to take another drink from her flask of sake.

Yang had grabbed what she might need to treat any basic injuries given it was all she could treat (thank her father for being so paranoid about an injury that she'd probably cover most about anything with her supplies) and opened the case which contained the newly minted gauntlets of _Celica Phoenix_. The _Ember Celica_ gauntlets had retracted into bracelets on her wrists when not in use whilst the _Celica Phoenix_ gauntlets were fairly similar there were braces that connected to elbow pads that would allow the gauntlet to spread further up her arm and offer more protection and little thimbles for her fingers for similar intent. The gauntlets also came with numerous other features, some of which she'd still been working on when she'd left to find Ruby and had yet to finish. The new gauntlets weren't even painted yet.

Whilst putting on the right gauntlet and making sure it was secure took no time at all it'd taken her longer to fully equip the left one. Fine motor control was something she and her new hand were still working on. Whilst Sora had never once looked away from what she was doing the older Huntress never spoke as Yang struggled. The blonde did catch her smirking briefly at one point during her struggles which caused her hair to flicker. But fighting Sora wasn't high on her priority list unless the other woman was leading her into a trap.

Once she finally got the second gauntlet fitted correctly she'd thrown her duffle bag over her shoulder and trudged over to join Sora. Whilst she was rather reluctant to leave Bumblebee behind the tree line wasn't exactly an inviting place to take her beloved bike. She'd back before the day was out unless something went wrong though, and it wasn't like there was anyone around to steal Bumblebee.

Sora had just eyed her with faintly masked amusement before turning to lead the way without a word and they must've been a good ten minutes into the walk before Yang finally grew frustrated: "You said you'd been out here for a while, right?" Sora nodded. "You haven't happened to run into anyone with silver-eyes?"

"Silver-eyes?" Sora looked back over her shoulder, her interest poorly hidden even with her poncho collar covering much of her face again.

"Yeah," Yang was slow to reply, unsure how much to give away after that reaction, "about yay tall, maybe a little taller," Yang held up a hand to show Ruby's height, "has black hair with red highlights. Likes to wear clothes that match. Has a red cloak that makes her hard to miss. Runs _really_ fast."

"Can't say it rings a bell," Sora turned away again, "would defiantly remember if I ran into someone with silver-eyes. Not exactly something you see every day." Okay, the older Huntress knew something Yang didn't. Maybe she was being led into a trap. "You never actually told me why you were out here yourself, Blondie."

"I'm looking for my birth mother."

"At Branwen's bandit camp?" Yang chose to nod, but not add anything further. From the looks of it, the last thing she wanted to admit to was being Raven's daughter. "Wouldn't have pegged you as a bandit cast off." Whilst there was no malice in the statement, Yang couldn't help but clench her fists in anger. Sora wasn't a woman of social tact and if circumstances had been different a Yang of a bygone day might have enjoyed exchanging barbs with her. Now she was just left frustrated.

So, it was that silence returned until they stumbled into the small clearing where Sora's camp was set-up some minutes later. If Yang wasn't so distracted she'd give Sora some credit for hiding her camp so well but in that moment, all that mattered was the injured survivor of the crash.

"Weiss!" Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw Sora's expression twist to one of shock at the name. It seemed Sora knew enough of the Schnee's to recognise one of their names but not their faces.

Dropping her duffle, Yang dropped to her knees to examine her teammate. Weiss, always clean and proper was caked in dirt and dried blood that Yang really hoped had belonged to someone else. There was some nasty bruising and her left leg looked swollen but not broken – it very well might have been but Weiss' Aura had fixed that much. What worried Yang was the obvious tear on the right side of Weiss' dress. It was wrapped in dirty, bloody bandages and when Yang peeled them back she found them to be hiding a stray piece of shrapnel, nothing too large but it had wedge itself tightly into the white-haired girl's right side just below her breast. Judging by the horrid looking puss and the blackening of the veins around the area the wound was badly infected.

 _Shit_ , Yang sword to herself. Whilst Aura had been known to heal many lesser physical injuries in time, even helping with broken bones, it wasn't a catch-all cure for diseases. People still got sick and Aura did nothing. Why nobody knew but it was one of the things that reminded Yang that Hunters weren't invincible. When it came to falling sick they were as vulnerable as anyone else.

She needed to get this thing out of Weiss before the infection could worsen into something that might very well kill her.

"Why didn't you take this out!" Yang looked over her shoulder, gesturing to the piece of shrapnel.

"I didn't have any way to cauterise the wound with," Sora replied coolly. "I could have taken it out but she'd have bled to death or an infection would have already killed her. I don't even have anything to fight of infections with me as I wasn't expecting something like this happen. The fact I had basic bandages in the first place is something."

"So, what? You'd have just laid down and died if _you_ got injured?"

"Out here in Nowhere you live or die," Sora shrugged one shoulder, "survival of the fittest and all that junk. Besides, bandits are far below my pay grade; I wasn't expecting a life-threatening mission here." This woman was really starting to try her patience as she downed another more of her sake.

Well, at least she could take out the shrapnel and use her Semblance to cauterise the wound and wrap it in fresh bandages. She had some basic antibiotics which Weiss would come around long enough for her to take them on her own - hopefully.

Looking up, Yang jerked head; "Come over here and hold down her shoulders whilst I pull out the shrapnel." Sora gave no argument, dropping to her knees with Weiss' head between her legs as she leaned forward. The blonde brawler took a moment as Weiss squirmed at the contact. "Hey, it's me, Princess. It's Yang. This might string, but I know you can tough this out."

Weiss squirmed again, not registering the sound of her voice. Knowing it wasn't much, Yang slipped a hand into one of Weiss', offering it a quick squeeze of comfort. It seemed to calm the injured heiress. Seeing the white-haired girl still, Yang moved to squat between her legs, letting her legs pin down the heiress own – the last thing she wanted was for her to start spasming when she pulled out the shrapnel.

"Sorry, Weiss but this one is going to sting…" Yang repeated but without further delay she looked up at Sora as she clasped the metal, nodding she looked back and pulled hard as Weiss awoke with a wild scream and everything went white.

* * *

 **Song:** _Anthem of Our Dying Day_ as performed by Stroy of the Year


	6. VI – Maybe It's Time

A/N: I mentioned that this story is going wildly different places than canon, this is the chapter that starts that snowball more than any other. Further notes at the end for those interested, enjoy.

* * *

 **The Heart of Winter**

 **VI** – _Maybe It's Time_

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

The sun had begun to set on their fifth day as Raven's prisoners. It'd been three full days since Uncle Qrow had left on the mission forced on him, what little contact Raven had allowed him to have with Ruby had been watched carefully and what he could tell her limited. Since his departure Ruby had spent nearly all her time chained to a stake, waiting.

Waiting which was finally paying off as Ruby was released and brought, rather summoned, before Raven.

A part of her had been surprised to even be called after she'd been otherwise ignored by the bandit leader outside of her existence being used her to blackmail her brother. But Sheep silently showed her into Raven's tent, grabbing a makeshift seat for her before bowing deeply and making a hasty exit.

Ruby didn't sit. Instead, she just watched Raven, as Yang's biological mother, examined a map of Nowhere; probably plotting their next move. An actual map of Remnant hung on the wall behind her.

It took a moment before Raven's red eyes flicked up to look at her. The older woman just rolled her eyes; "Suit yourself," she said before sitting back in her chair, properly taking Ruby in.

There was silence as Raven took examined her, every last little detail noted: "You really are your mother's double. But I see _some_ of your father in you, you got lucky there." Rubs eyes narrowed as Raven stood from her chair for a moment, moving to a small stand behind her chair where a tea set sat.

"Tell me," Raven spoke with a coolness that unsettled Ruby as she placed down the tray carrying a teapot and cups. All the pottery had once been broken and glued back together. "What has Taiyang told you about Summer? Or Qrow for that matter?"

"Dad doesn't really like to talk about her," Ruby replied, unsure of why she went with that exact response but it seemed appropriate at the time. Raven just raised one eyebrow as she poured them both some tea. "Uncle Qrow is… _vague_. He gets this really sad look on his face whenever he talks about her."

"I'd imagine as much." The was a hardness to her voice now, her eyes narrowing and Ruby suddenly felt unsure of whether she'd said the right thing or not. After a moment though Raven's gazed relaxed before she rested her elbows on the arms over her chair, tenting her hands.

"Summer Rose was unlike anyone else I have ever met," the bandit leader said, "even now I haven't decided on whether that's a good or a bad thing. Now tell me this: what has Qrow told you about the war you've found yourself in the middle of? I take it he's told you enough to quell your curiosity without telling you enough that you'll start asking the right questions."

 _The right questions?_ Ruby blinked, but she supposed it made sense that Raven would want to try and get information out of her. "We know about the Maidens – and the relics."

"And what about your eyes?"

"He told me that I'm something called a Silver-Eyed Warrior."

"No, you're not." Raven looked angered that Ruby would even dare to claim as much. "Summer Rose was a Silver-Eyed Warrior, one of the last. You are a scared little girl that has done nothing but wallow in doubt and self-pity since you were brought to this camp. You're a disgrace to your mother's name."

Ruby's jaw dropped as words escaped her.

"Having silver-eyes does not make you a Silver-Eyed Warrior," Raven continued her tirade against her, "you have none of the training or the strength of will a Silver-Eyed Warrior should have. You are just a child who has been coddled by men who are too afraid to share the truth with you. So, I will do it for them." Raven's tone softened towards the end as she nodded towards the seat.

This time Ruby took it, realising she was going to need it. She also decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a long sip of her tea.

"Now before I say anything more tell me what exactly what my brother has told you about who you are." And Ruby did. Uncertainty plagued her thoughts as she spent most of the time staring at the edge of the desk as she spoke, but she would occasionally look up to gauge Raven's reaction but often found her looking frustrated. "Look at me when you talk!"

Ruby just about jumped in her seat, her words about the Maidens suddenly forgotten. Taking a breath to steady herself, Ruby lifted her head and did her best to glare at Raven before she continued her story. She did not break eye contact with Raven until she finished recounting what her uncle had told her that night he was poisoned.

"Of course, Qrow would be more forthcoming about the Maidens than anything else," Raven rolled her eyes, tapping one finger against her desk. She fixed Ruby with a pointed look that seemed meant to measure Ruby rather than intimidate her. After a long second, she picked up an old-fashioned coin that was lying on her desk, turning it over in her fingers.

"I can see this conversation will last longer than I'd hoped," Raven grumbled, not pleased that she was the one that had to explain whatever revelation she was about to reveal. "See this coin?"

Ruby nodded, unsure what else she was supposed to do as Raven thrust her arm forward so she could see the side of the coin which bore a carved dragon and old Mistralian writing around the edges.

"Imagine that this side of the coin represents the Four Maidens," again, Ruby nodded as Raven flipped the coin around, showing her the side that bore a crown, "and this side represents the Silver-Eyed Warriors."

Ruby let her head tilt to one side. Uncle Qrow had mentioned both the Silver-Eyed Warriors and the Maidens on separate occasions but never seemed to make any reference to the idea that they might be connected.

"Qrow left out a vital part of the Tale of Four Maidens." Raven sighed, looking forlorn for a moment. "The wizard that gifted these Maidens powers in the first place knew that those powers would pass in time and others might not use them as selflessly as the first Maidens had. So, the wizard devised a plan, he sought four brothers with strange eyes and together they created the four clans of Silver-Eyed Warriors which would each defend one Maiden before scattering to the far corners of Remnant.

"As I said though, the wizard knew that not all future Maidens would be pure of heart. So it was decided that if a Maiden were to stray from the righteous path, to forsake her duty and fall into darkness that her guardian would become her executioner. That is why the Maidens are highly susceptible to the power of silver-eyes, the wizard ensured that the protectors could do what was needed if things came to that. It is also why Silver-Eyed Warriors have always carried scythes – in case they were required to reap a Fallen Maiden. Who else do you think would teach someone like _Qrow_ how to wield a scythe of all things?"

"Mom taught Qrow?" Raven nodded. Ruby could only sit there stunned as she tried to understand what had been told to her. "But Uncle Qrow never mentioned Mom using a scythe or teaching him whenever he talked about STRQ…"

"Let me guess," Raven snorted in response, "he and Taiyang have also filled your head with how STRQ was a well-oiled machine from day one. That we were always the unstoppable force that we were by graduation, is that what they told you?"

For what seemed like the hundredth time, all Ruby could find herself able to do was nod silently.

Raven _laughed_.

Not a small laugh or a snigger either, but a full-blown maniacal laugh that had her shaking as she threw her head back. Ruby could only sit there and wait for the laughter to stop.

"The truth is STRQ was a dumpster fire of a team in our first year." Raven shook her head when she finally finished laughing; "Qrow and I didn't exactly play well with each other let alone strangers and Tai was, well, _himself_ , and getting your mother to say anything was like pulling teeth. The only reason we put up with each other is that the alternative was expulsion. Even our second year didn't go smoothly, STRQ could tolerate one another by that point but it wasn't until the mission with the Leshrac and Dahlia Blairwood that we truly came together."

"The Leshrac? Dahlia Blairwood…?"

"A nasty Grimm that would've killed us if not for Summer's eyes," Raven explained nonchalantly. "It's funny how a near-death experience can bring a team together. The injuries we suffered facing that monster stopped us from competing in the Vytal Festival. Come the beginning of our third year Professor Ozpin was appointed headmaster and STRQ began to see extra training and special missions. When our fourth year began we breezed through everything Ozpin put in front of us. Qrow's precious team photo was taken days before graduation."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ruby asked curiously, noting of all things she'd mentioned Raven hadn't addressed Dahlia Blairwood further.

"I'm telling you this because the world is _cruel_ and it is never what you think it is," Raven said with no sign of sympathy. "It will beat the weak to the ground and then eat them alive. _You_ are weak. You have been treated as though you were made of glass by scared little men who have forgotten how harsh Remnant is. I haven't forgotten. The Summer Rose I know would never be dragged down by doubt or indulge in her own self-pity. _She_ was strong.

"But here you are, feeling sorry for yourself because you weren't ready to get your hands dirty. You're a soldier and don't have the luxury of second-guessing yourself. If you're alive then it doesn't matter if your choices were right or wrong. The moment you accept culpability for anything beyond your own actions is the second you expose yourself to death. You'll have forever to think about what you could have done better when you're dead so stop indulging in your self-pity and grow a spine."

A part of Ruby wasn't sure if she was hearing correctly because it almost sounded like Raven was giving her some sort of pep talk. It was a strange one, but she was pretty sure it counted as one. Or at least the closest thing the estranged Branwen twin could give.

"Also, if Taiyang and Qrow won't tell you the truth then the responsibility falls to me," Raven added with a note and glare that told Ruby that punishment would swiftly follow if she ever dared breathe a word of what came next to anyone: "as your godmother."

Ruby was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open in surprise, "G-godmother…!? But you were gone by the time I was born!"

"Do you know that for certain?" Raven replied coldly.

"Yes, I do!"

"You _believe_ the story we wanted you to," Raven's reply was icy, her eyes narrowing, "don't act like you even remotely understand what happened when you were young or the choices that were made so you and Yang could grow up in something that resembled a safe and healthy environment."

Again, Ruby found herself at a loss for words as she tried to make sense of everything she was being told. But _none_ of it did make sense. All her life she'd grown up to believe this woman had just up and left one day because she didn't care. But here Raven sat, implying the complete opposite.

Ruby's gaze fell on the table for a moment, taking a deep breath, she tried to steady her racing heart and calm her frantic mind.

"But if you were around when I was born why don't I remember you?" Ruby looked up again, determination burning within her now as she realised what this was. All her life she'd asked questions about her mother, about STRQ, only to have her father and uncle dance around them with vague responses and placating answers. Raven was offering her the uncensored truth and she was damn well going to get the answers she'd been denied her entire life. "Why does Yang not remember you? Why did you leave?"

"Qrow, your mother and I were all involved with Ozpin's war against Salem." Raven's darkened at the mention of Ozpin's name as the former headmaster was brought up once more. "Taiyang knew some of what was going on but chose to stay as uninvolved as Yang was his priority. Then, fifteen years ago we encountered Dahlia Blairwood for the first time since she and Leshrac almost killed us as second years."

"Who _is_ Dahlia Blairwood?" Ruby said in a pleading voice, "What does she have to do with everything that's happening now?"

"She was Salem's pet Maiden before Qrow removed her head from her shoulders." Whilst Ruby did not pity anyone who served Salem and died for it, but she could have done without the image of her beloved uncle beheading someone. "Dahlia was the Winter Maiden and perhaps the single most terrifying woman I have ever met. Shortly before our last confrontation, she corrupted another Maiden. The then Fall Maiden; Luna Nightingale. She also happened to be Ozpin's only daughter."

"Professor Ozpin's _daughter_ …?" Ruby stammered. "I – what, _how_?"

"Luna committed _the_ taboo a Maiden and Ozpin took steps to ensure his daughter's mistake couldn't be exploited by Salem." Raven scowled deeply. "His actions had the opposite effect – as Summer told him they would. Luna vanished before she returned years later and joined Dahlia in her bid to seize the Relic of Winter.

"Your mother and Luna had been close friends," Raven said after a while in silence, "whilst Luna was older your mother was Luna's sworn protector. Luna poisoned and betrayed your mother in one last act of spite after Summer was forced to do her duty."

"Poisoned?"

"The power of the Maidens and silver-eyes are two sides of the same coin," Raven nodded her head to where the coin now lay on the desk, "but they cannot coexist within the same being. If a person were to possess both then the powers would destroy one another, killing the host from within. Luna purposely passed the powers of the Fall Maiden to your mother to take Summer with her. It worked. Combine with her injuries the powers of the Fall Maiden only took a handful of hours to kill your mother."

And there it was. The one thing everyone refused to talk about, her mother's death laid bare before her. For years Ruby had been led to believe that it was a mission gone wrong, an unnamed Grimm had been her mother's murderer. But she was murdered by a person, her friend.

Ruby finally knew how her mother died. And it only left her feeling hollow.

"All of STRQ had counted Luna as a friend," there was a sign of deep regret on Raven's face as spoken, but when she continued with the story she forced it away with a scowl; "but for all her niceties Luna was a rather jealous and petty person at heart who had been born to measure up to impossible standards and she couldn't stand the idea of your mother having the one thing she couldn't."

"What was that…?"

"A child." Well, that wasn't what Ruby had expected. "When a woman becomes a Maiden, she forsakes all familial ties that could distract her from her mission. It is meant to be a lonely existence spent helping better Remnant. Luna became pregnant shortly after becoming the Fall Maiden, a few months after STRQ graduated. She carried the child to term only for Ozpin to hide the child.

"Losing her daughter broken something in Luna," Raven said slowly as she frowned. The bandit leader gave pause for a moment as though unsure how to best word what she needed to say next. "It must've been all the worse to know it was her father who took her daughter from her. She was never the same; Luna distanced herself before vanishing. Your mother attempted to track her down, but there were circumstances at the time that prevented it."

"Circumstances?" Again, the older Branwen twin looked hesitant at Ruby's question. It seemed Raven _wasn't_ going to tell her everything after all. She could hardly complain about being given answers for once in her life but more questions kept on coming.

"Ask Qrow about Robin." Ruby blinked in confusion. Who, or what, was Robin? "He'll want to be drunk when he tells you but make him do it sober. You'll understand why he needs to be the one to tell you when he does. Robin aside there isn't much left to tell," Raven said as she tented her hands once more after drinking the last of her tea, "Qrow took over the hunt when your mother couldn't and was barely heard from again until Luna remerged six years later. They weren't easy times. I was also working closely with Ozpin at the time which resulted in me being on missions for long periods of time. Eventually, I came home one time and my own daughter didn't even recognise me."

Whilst Ruby wasn't a master of body language but even she noticed the change in Raven in that moment. It was hard to tell what exactly was going through her mind when the bandit leader closed her eyes, masking her expression. But from the woman's tone, Ruby could tell she felt some kind of regret over leaving.

"Our conflict with Dahlia and Luna lasted only a few weeks, with several small battles across Vale and Atlas. When it was all over Summer was dead, Taiyang had been hospitalised and Qrow had decided to try and drink himself to death." Raven opened her eyes again, hard and cold. Ruby could only wonder how she and Yang didn't remember _any_ of this. "My own daughter had no idea who I was, my marriage was dead and I had lost enough to Ozpin's stupid war. So, I made sure Qrow wasn't going to do anything stupid and I left because there was nothing for me on Patch anymore. And here we are now, fifteen years later."

There was a finality to Raven's words as she briefly slumped in her chair.

Still, for all the information Raven had given her Ruby had dozens of new questions. Questions she still needed answered. But there was one that burned hot that all the rest.

"But Mom and Dad…" Ruby said to herself, utterly confused as to how all of this really worked. Why were things hardly simple anymore? Had her parents had an affair whilst Raven was on a mission one time? Was the relationship Raven and dad had an open one? Just how did _she_ fit into this entire mess if Raven was still around when she was born?

"This conversation has gone on long enough."

"But–"

"Enough!" Raven barked and Ruby just about jumped in her seat. "Leave now."

"No."

" _No_?" Raven repeated dangerously and whilst frustration boiled inside of Ruby she knew she wasn't getting any more information. But maybe she could get something else.

"Not until you let Jaune and I free of our restraints," Ruby hoped she sounded as bold and confident to Raven as she did to herself in that moment, otherwise this would amount to nothing. "...And return our weapons." _Return_ my _scythe._ Was what she was really saying.

The pair stared one another down for a long time. Given the coldness with which Raven looked down on her, Ruby was sure her demands would go ignored. Her belief was only confirmed when Raven stood from her chair, Ruby scrambling up herself, Raven grabbed her by the scruff of her cloak before she could do anything.

Raven dragged her out of the tent like she weighed nothing, throwing her out. Oddly the throw seemed fairly feeble given Raven's ability to drag her around like it was nothing and although she staggered a few steps, Ruby was able to maintain her balance and not fall flat on her face. A second later Raven stepped out behind her. "Sheep!"

The bandit appeared from thin air at the call of his name, looking oddly nervous; like he expected some sort of punishment.

"Yes, Raven?"

"Let the blonde idiot off his stake," both Ruby and Sheep blinked at the command, "we've let them skate by long enough. Tomorrow put them both to work and make sure they earn their keep." Raven moved to return to her tent but took a second to look back at Ruby one last time. "Prove you can both behave tomorrow and I might _consider_ your other request."

Ruby blinked again and Raven was gone. Perhaps her decision to try and stand up to the bandit leader had been the right one. When she turned around to head back over to the large bonfire again she saw Sheep was already freeing Jaune. Good. But, she wasn't sure she was ready to face her friend yet. Jaune would obviously want to know what happened with Raven but Ruby was still struggling to try to process it all and she really didn't want to talk about it to anyone.

How much of her life was a lie? Shaking her head she did her best to bring herself back to the present and deal with more pressing issues. Right now, she needed to make sure Raven did give her and Jaune back their weapons. Then they could figure out an escape. Then they would find Ren and Nora. Then they'd go to Haven and stop Cinder just like they'd planned all those months ago.

Then Ruby would get her answers from Qrow. All of them.

* * *

 **Qrow Branwen**

Qrow winced slightly as he downed the glass of piss water this so-called bar tried to pass off as whiskey.

It'd taken him almost three days of nonstop travel from Raven's camp to reach the city of Mistral. Time wasn't something he had much of; now he was in the city he was going to have to act quickly before Raven moved the tribe but old addictions weren't easy to kick. Of the nine days Raven had given him, discounting travel, he had three days. That was all he had left to either kill Lionheart or find an alternative to his current situation.

Regardless of what he ended up doing he wasn't getting anything done with a busted weapon. He needed to get _Death's Respite_ repaired.

Raven had given him the address of a weapon smithy in Mistral that she was on amicable terms with. It seemed odd that Raven would have a contact inside of a major city but that wasn't what had set off the warning bell inside his head. Raven had warned him that the reunion might not exactly be a happy – meaning he knew this smith too.

After finding out Harimau was alive, the ageing Huntsman wasn't anxious for any more reunions with old friends. Which was why he'd taken a few moments to get a quick drink to steal his nerve. So he told himself. His flask could also do with a refill but he wasn't going to pay for any more of this place's piss.

Paying for his overpriced drink, Qrow made to leave – he'd find somewhere else to get drunk whilst he got _Death's Respite_ fixed. Checking his Scroll, he saw that Lionheart had been quick to respond to his request for a meeting – at least getting in the door wasn't going to be a problem. Although it was tomorrow afternoon, he scowled. He really could have done with a full day in the city before meeting the turncoat. It'd have given him more time to find friends he could rely on should everything go south as it tended to do.

On the upside, it just meant he could make his own move quicker and return to Raven and have her release Ruby and Jaune. The longer he was away the more time his twin had time to put ideas in Ruby's head. A part of him was more than nervous about what his sister might tell Ruby to spite him. Raven knew how much power she had. Raven wasn't bound by the same rules he and Taiyang had agreed upon when Summer died. That was what made her truly dangerous in his eyes.

When Qrow came to some of the winding stairs that connected the many levels of the city, Qrow was genuinely surprised to find he was headed up instead of down. He'd suspected to be dealing with some of the shadier black-market merchants, not some of the more respectable citizens.

Admittedly when he reached the level he was looking for it was still in the more middle-class section of the city. Looking around though it was defiantly a lot nicer than most of what he'd seen until now. Just who was he dealing with here? He checked the address again, _Gale Force Smithy_ didn't ring any sort of bell.

When he finally found the place, Qrow decided it wasn't exactly much to write home about, looking much like any other ageing smithy he'd seen in his day. Built from old oak wood and iron with small glass windows and several vents. A few large chimneys puffing smoke and a few extensions jutting out the back of the building. There was a little wooden sign bearing a read tornado hanging above the door with the store's name in matching paint. The whole place looked like it needed a bit of a touch-up and a new coat of paint. It was honestly kind of out of place among the other clean and well-kept businesses around it.

Pushing open the door, Qrow heard the slight jingle of the bell. He entered a tiny lobby that wasn't much bigger than a basic toolshed. What space there was had been cut in half by a counter that faced the door. There was a handful of weapons proudly display on what little wall space was available

"How can I – what, _Qrow_!?" _Wait, I know that voice,_ Qrow thought as he turned to face the person behind him. But before his eyes could confirm anything, a wrench came flying at his face. It might have caught him unawares if old reflexes hadn't kicked in as though years hadn't passed since this had last happened to him. The wrench eventually collided with the axe on the wall he'd been examining before the smithy had emerged from the back.

The axe and wrench hit the floor with a clatter but Qrow was deaf to it. The woman now behind the desk was wearing dirt-stained overalls, even if she'd shrugged off the top and tied the sleeves around her waist and a tank top that might have been white once upon a time. Her hair was still the deepest black with vibrant red tips kept in a well-managed bob cut which was longer at the front than the back. Her silver eyes shone like stars in the low light, the glare still had him gaping in speechless panic.

Fucking Raven. That _bitch_. Of all the people, she could have sent him to, she sent him to _Ingrid_.

"I-Ingrid!" He knew he was staring, but it was hard not to. Even now the resemblance was always inhuman, and aside from the stark height difference which had always been the telling difference between the two Rose sisters, Qrow was certain Ingrid would be the spitting image of her little sister. Or would Summer be the spitting image of Ingrid seeing as she was the younger sister?

"I go by Poppy Gale now," Ingrid hissed with the look of a cornered animal, her eyes flicking wildly to the door as though she expected someone else to follow him inside. "Makes hiding under Lionheart's nose easier as we've never met. Can't risk any of Ozpin's cronies finding me and dragging me back into that mess."

 _Shit_. She must've fought he was there on Ozpin's behalf or something similar as she was clearly grasping for a weapon hidden behind the counter. He had to fix this quickly. Throwing up his arms, Qrow got his brain back in gear: "Oz is dead, Ingrid."

"Uh-huh, for how long _this_ time?" She sneered back and Qrow had no rebuttal. Although Ingrid still spoke with suspicion her shoulders seemed to relax and she brought her hands up from behind the counter into view; "But if Ozpin is dead then how the hell did you find me? What are you even here for?"

"I got caught up in one of Raven's messes again," Qrow admitted as he gently approached the desk, laying _Death's Respite_ across it, "had a run in with a Minotaur about six days back." He felt bolder now he could see Ingrid's hands, knowing they weren't clutching onto _Bloody Valentine_ which was no doubt hidden on the underside of the desk.

"Typical of you," Ingrid muttered as she folded her arms over her chest before taking a long look at his scythe. "What'd Summer call you? A bad luck charm. Still, I'm waiting for the other shoe, Qrow." He nodded slowly, he needed to choose his words carefully, Ingrid had always worn her heart on her sleeves and was clearly unsettled seeing again. He knew he was seeing her. Angry too. _So very angry_. There'd be time for that shouting match later.

"She captured me after the battle," Qrow shrugged one shoulder, instinctively going for his flask, only to remember it was empty, "she captured a pair of young Hunters I was with. One of them was Ruby. _Your_ niece."

Ingrid said nothing for a long moment as she processed what he said. "I have a niece?"

"You'd know that know _Ruby_ ," Qrow said before taking a deep breath, closing his eyes; _Clam, stay calm,_ he kept repeating to himself because he couldn't have this blow up in his face, "If you'd not disappeared off the face of Remnant. Or come back to Patch for your _sister's_ funeral."

"We both know damn well why I left. Why I never came back," Ingrid said without looking him in the eye.

"Whatever. Back to the point," Qrow just sniffed, not willing to play _that_ game, "Raven is blackmailing me into killing Lionheart, using Ruby as leverage to make sure I go through with it."

"Does she honestly think that'd work?" Ingrid snorted, unconvinced, "Raven would never harm Summer's daughter."

"Maybe not," Qrow conceded because he truthfully agreed, "but Harimau would. What's more, she also has one of Ruby's friends, I don't think his life is nearly as safe as Ruby's and I ain't getting more innocent blood on my hands."

Ingrid said nothing again, her gaze going to _Death's Respite_. There was a long moment of silence and Qrow watched a storm of different emotions flicker across the smith's face. A part of him was genuinely scared that she would tell him to leave and take his scythe with him. Yet when she ran a hand along the crooked shaft of Death's Respite Qrow let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding. A longing, distant smile pulled at Ingrid's lips.

"I'm sorry for how things ended,"

"We don't have time for that." Qrow knew his words came out harsher than he'd meant but it was the truth. Ingrid's eyes had come up hoping for something and returned to the damaged weapon just so she wouldn't have to look at him. The younger Branwen twin had known what she was hoping for and he also knew that even when this was all said and done he couldn't give it to her.

"Death's Respite really was a masterpiece," Qrow nodded as he decided to let Ingrid lead the conversation in the direction she felt safe in. The weapon had always been a sword it was with Summer's help and guidance that it became what it was. Ruby's obsession with weapons being a genetic trait every Rose woman seemed to have. For all the work, he'd put into his scythe over the years Qrow knew without his late partner it would've turned out the way it did. "How long do you have to kill Lionheart?"

"Three days. But I'm meeting him tomorrow."

"Well there's no way I can fix this in one night on my own," Ingrid shrugged despondently, "I can give you a replacement in the meantime but the amount of work I've got to do with this thing means it'll be a while before it's usable again."

"What kind of replacement we talking about here?"

"Nothing different," Ingrid shook her head, "It's a sword-scythe like this based on the original schematics for Death's Respite - although no firearm configuration. It's been sitting in a case gathering a dust for a few good years so it isn't state of the art but neither is Death's Respite by today's standards. I'll do you whilst I sort out this mess you've made. I'm glad you're still kicking, birdbrain."

"Yeah," Qrow nodded his head slowly, even if he'd know Ingrid was never dead in the first place it was a shock to find her in Mistral of all places. "Likewise, I guess, grease monkey. Don't suppose you've got any real whiskey kicking around this place."

"You drink now?"

"Yeah," Qrow winced slightly, forgetting the drinking had come after Ingrid had vanished, "and trust me you're going to want something for yourself. You've missed a lot."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like where this story goes?" Oh, if only she knew, Qrow thought.

* * *

 **Song:** _Maybe It's Time_ as performed by Sixx:A.M.

* * *

A/N: First I'd like to address that, after being asked about it in the last chapter, the events happening in this story are not in chronological order with the introduction of the Yang/Weiss plotline. I'm assuming that a lot of what happened in V4 wasn't shown in order either so I've used that to help the different threads of my story connect where and when I want. At the moment Ren and Nora and their plotline are first in the timeline with Yang's scene happening _roughly_ eleven days later and the events with Ruby, Jaune and Qrow are in between those two points. Hopefully, that makes sense.

Second Ozpin does not come off in a positive light in this chapter. A part of that is Raven's obvious biases towards him (unreliable narrator) and partly down to the fact I view Ozpin in a similar vein to Dumbledore from _Harry Potter_. He's a man with good _intentions_ who struggles against a great evil but that doesn't make him a good man. Sometimes to fight threats like that it means becoming a lesser evil for the sake of humanity. More on that later.

Lastly personal mythos theories galore this chapter with more to come in future. Have fun friends, see you next time!


	7. VII – Dream No More

**The Heart of Winter**

 **VII** – _Dream No More_

* * *

 **Lie Ren**

His head was throbbing when he came around. He decided to not try and sit up, instead, he closed his eyes tighter and raised a hand to massage his temples. He could hear hushed voices somewhere off past his feet and when he finally opened his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of Nora hovering over him. Whilst relief washed over him knowing that she was okay, it was quickly replaced by shame as he realised the damage he could have done in his rage. If Nora had come after him, which of course she would have done, and something had happened to her it would have been on him.

He never wanted to feel like that again. Full of nothing but hate and rage.

He wasn't much found of feeling sore all over either, but when Nora grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, yanking him upright so she could hug he made no effort to rebuke her. If he hadn't regained some of his Aura he might've worried about the girl crushing him in her embrace. When she squeezed a little too tight he hissed and they parted for a moment.

"Jerk." When Nora did finally pull away from him she looked at him with such an expression of relief that he never saw the slap coming. "Don't you _ever_ try anything like that again." Ren honestly had no words: Nora's relief had twisted into what might have been sadness.

Ren opened his mouth as he tried to formulate a response. Nothing really came to him, so he just smiled weakly and pulled her into another hug. This one was thankfully nowhere near as painful as the first, letting Nora's head rest in the crook of his neck. The faint sniff and slight dampness told him Nora was doing her best to fight back tears. He wasn't so strong. But his tears weren't sad, because as he sat there holding Nora a part of Ren realised he'd never be so damn happy to still be alive.

He still had so much left to do with his life.

"Would you like us to leave you alone for ten minutes?" The question startled them both, Nora letting out a slight _eep_ as she let go of her grip on Ren, who went crashing back to the ground with a groan.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Ren saw the two knights from Kuroyuri sitting off to the side by a small campfire. The female was smiling at them in a knowing manner, the younger of the pair knights, only three years out of Beacon at most with pale blonde hair that was shaved on the left side, whilst the right was a short mess of spikes and a single braid that fell to rest on her shoulder. Her eyes were a shocking shade of green and there was something eerily familiar about the female knight, something in her face that Ren instantly recognised but couldn't place.

The male knight must've been in his late twenties, weathered and world-weary with tan coloured skin and pitch-black hair the spiked backwards like a duck's butt and a small overhang sweeping down above his right eye. Bloody red eyes narrowed when he looked at Ren before his expression settled into one of boredom. He was sitting against his giant sword with his arms crossed but seemed at ease with his surroundings.

"Now that's out of the way," The male knight said, eye role was audible and although Ren was annoyed to have someone so callously dismiss this moment he and Nora were having he couldn't be angry. These people had saved their lives. "We can actually get on with things now."

"Major." The female knight said in a whinny tone, her expression disappointed. It was in that moment that Nora helped him up and assisted him as they walked over to join the two Knights of the Veil.

"We don't have time for drama hour, Sergeant." The male knight replied curtly, "They'll have time for that when we get to Mistral but there's a lot going on and we can't afford to waste what little time we have."

"Ren," Nora said with an uncharacteristic dryness to her tone, "this here is Major Raleigh Bisterne, Sixth Knight of the Veil and Sergeant Clover Arc; Eleventh Knight of the Veil – one of Jaune's big sisters."

Ren almost did a double take as the resemblance hit him. Now that Nora had given him a name he could see the family resemblance that he couldn't place before. What's more when he looked down to the breast of Clover's armour he saw the Arc family crest nestled between a pair of green antlers.

"Nora here has just finished telling us what you were both doing out here," Clover said as Ren and Nora sat back down – Nora still clutching onto one of his hands, or was it the other way around? "Or at least most of it. Trust my brother and his friends to get tangled up with one of the most wanted men in Vale."

"Tyrian," Nora clarified.

"Ah," Ren nodded his head.

"Being mixed up with a drunk like Qrow Branwen probably didn't much help matters," Raleigh added with a sniff. Public opinion of Qrow wasn't very high. "This changes a few things: the Sergeant and I were in the south, not far off the coast when the attack on Beacon occurred and we were left stranded without any way to return to Vale. We've been making our way to Mistral to beseech Haven's headmaster for help. Looks like that'll have to wait until we can clean up this entire mess. The sooner we get to Haven the sooner we can start taking steps to prevent another attack like Beacon."

"Wait, we need to find Jaune and the others!" Nora cut in.

"After everything you've just told me the rescue of Jaune Arc is hardly a priority," Raleigh stated bluntly. "We're on a tight schedule to find the conspirators from Beacon before they can strike again, and we don't have time to go chancing after students in territory we know nothing about."

"Are you kidding me?" Nora snapped, lunging forward. Ren, whilst he was on the girl's side, held her back. Picking a fight with a Knight of the Veil wasn't on there to do list for today. "Do I have to make you go and find Jaune and the others myself, wannabe rust bucket?"

"Nora's right," Ren interjected as Clover only raised an eyebrow at Nora's futile attempts to get within arm's reach of her superior, "partially. Sort of. Regardless of Jaune being a priority or not he and Ruby are with Qrow and even if you don't respect him as a Huntsman he is the person who knows the most about what's really going on and finding him should be a priority. Not to mention Ruby herself is a target of the enemy and we need to stop them from capturing her."

"And he's your brother!" Nora added for him, glowering at Clover.

"So instead of reaching Haven in a timely fashion," Raleigh began, looking unimpressed by their attitudes, "and helping the headmaster there set up defences in preparation for a possible attack you'd have us chase after a missing Huntsman and two students? In territory we know almost nothing about? When no one here can speak to why bandits would take them or where with next to no knowledge on how the bandits operate or what defences they might have in place if we were to even find them; is that it?

"Jaune Arc _cheated_ his way into Beacon with no training to speak of and Branwen is a drunkard, whilst this Ruby girl has done a poor job leading her team," Raleigh's tone was level, if not cold and his face stony. "Hardly what I would call assets in the coming fight."

"Jaune had no training but not only lasted the year by led a team to the Vytal festival!"

"Of course, he lasted the year," Raleigh shrugged, "Ozpin isn't going to expel him: raises too many questions as to why he'd do that. It'd be an embarrassment for the school if word got out that an untrained student cheated their way in – better to let the kid get himself killed in the field then deal with something that is expected to happen at some point or another rather than the bad press of a public expulsion."

"You _bastard_." Nora hissed, "If they die because of you–!"

"Your underestimate Branwen," Clover cut in, defending her superior with an intensity Ren had not expected give her little brother was missing and probably in great danger. "Despite his addiction, the man is perhaps one of the finest Huntsman I've ever met. I trust Branwen to look after my brother and his niece because the man I know wouldn't die to something so mundane as poison. My brother did what none of us thought passable when we heard he'd be in the Vytal Festival - as a first year – he has earned his name and my respect so even if Branwen doesn't make it to Haven I expect Jaune and your friend Ruby to get there."

Ren stared on, admittedly a little bewildered. Clover had not gone where he'd thought she was with that summarisation. It looked as though Nora agreed as she was sitting next to him with her jaw hanging open in a lopsided O of shock.

"You've got a lot of faith in your brother and the others, Sergeant," Raleigh said after a moment but nodded his acceptance on the matter.

"You'd do well not to underestimate Jaune, sir," Clover said with a sideways glance towards Ren and Nora, winking as she let herself smile for a moment. "I know I won't be making that mistake again."

"Well if that's settled," Raleigh stood up, pulling his weapon from the earth, "we best use what daylight we have left and get moving. The further we are from here the less likely that Grimm is to come looking for round two."

Feeling it was best not to restart the argument, Ren nodded his head and stood up. Whilst he might not have liked it one bit, Clover was right, he should trust Jaune to get himself out of this mess and to Haven in one piece. After everything that had happened to them, he owed his friend that much respect.

"It's hardly the only Grimm around these parts worth avoiding, sir." Clover pulled her helmet back on as it became clear it was time to go. "There's evidence that there's a Minotaur in the area as well as the Nuckelavee."

"Great," Raleigh hissed, "just what we needed: wandering into the middle of a cold war between two apex predators. Grimm density in this area is unnaturally strong to attract two Royal-class Grimm. What's next an Arachne Broodmother? The Leshrac back from the dead?"

"The Ifrit on loan from Vacuo? A Chimera?" Clover added in her own horrifying suggests as her excitement increased with each Grimm species she listed off, hopefully as a joke but after everything else, he wouldn't be surprised if such horrors appeared on their path to Haven. "Oh, I know, a homunculus!"

"Don't even joke about running into one of those things," Raleigh warned his subordinate as he put on his own helmet and began walking. "Now come one, we've still got about two days on foot to go before we reach Haven and don't have time to waste."

Clover followed her superior without complaint, goading him into betting on what type of Grimm they'd run into. Ren could only look over at Nora; "She's Jaune sister? Not what I would've expected." Whilst the family resemblance was there the two seemed to at opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to anything else.

Nora just shrugged weakly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along so they weren't left behind by the two Knights of the Veil.

* * *

 **Weiss Schnee**

Weiss _knew_ she was dreaming.

Before she opened her eyes that last thing she remembered was the ship crashing. Now though she stood in a beautiful meadow of open grass and wildflowers, not a cloud in sight as the sun hovered at its apex. She found herself oddly at peace in this new garden in her dreams, none of the concerns of reality could penetrate the warmth of the sun that tickled her entire body.

But as Weiss moved to explore this strange dreamland, the flowers around her withered and died before frosting over as the smell of smoke tickled her nose. Taking a step back the former heiress felt the grass dry and frost over as the flowers had before, the ground turning so cold that it burnt her bare feet.

Perhaps this was no dream, but a nightmare.

Her back peddling eventually caused her to collide with something that had not been there before. Looking over her shoulder Weiss saw nothing there at first, before realising she'd back into a wall of ice so clear it was unnoticeable. It to burned cold at her touch.

Most certainly a nightmare, she decided as the ice _blackened_.

No longer was the warmth of the sun a gentle heat, but a repressive wave that had her sweating and squirming as her side suddenly stun fiercely as her dress became a dirty mess. When she brought her hands to where the pain sprang from she found blood spilling forth onto her skin, entire body shaking.

Then the hammering started.

Weiss fell to her knees, ignoring how the dried ground was so cold it was burning away the skin of her legs, instead, she could only look up at the only part of the wall that had not turned utterly black. No larger than a small window, Weiss almost thought she was staring at her own reflection for a moment before realising it wasn't _exactly_ her. The other Weiss looked gaunt in the face, somehow even paler than what was normal for the Schnee girl, hair short and a mess streaked with black and bloodshot, soulless eyes that screamed out for help.

Again, and again the other Weiss would let herself slump against the wall, banging a fist on it before recoil after a moment because how the wall was burning away her skin. Stomps so came from the other side of the black ice wall and then it shattered. The pain in Weiss' side was greater than ever as she found herself face to face with her counterpart, a blacked blade impaling the pair of them together.

Looking up as the other Weiss slumped against her, the true Weiss saw her faithful knight, twisted and blackened like all the other ice. Dark slits of red glowed where its eyes should be, many pointed pauldrons and the helm of a marauder.

Why? Weiss thought as the other her suddenly moved against her, struggling to lift her head as she placed her hands-on Weiss' shoulders. When their eyes met, it was worse than when it had been before, eyes not utterly black and veins bulging as the dark blue light seemed to flicker out from the corners.

"Damned is fall and a false tale is spring," the other Weiss rasped as her hands glided up to tighten around the real Weiss' throat, "Look to winter to learn lest these be the last days of summer. Beware of snakes with silvered tongues and wizards of old. Lies beget more lies, even when they are the truth. Find your wolf, little lamb or be prey to the harlot and her bloodied beast."

Weiss couldn't breathe let alone respond to the nonsense her counterpart was sprouting. The blacked, malformed knight just another twist of his giant blade, leveraging it to the twisted Weiss could force her to the ground and choke the life from her.

When Weiss hit the ground, she closed her eyes and screamed. Only to find herself sitting upright, eyes open wide as she stared into the darkness between a not too distant treeline, the faint crackle of a fire burning next to her.

 _What?_ She thought, utterly confused as the memories of her nightmare quickly faded into fog before nothing but the words of her other self-remained. _Since when have I ever made so little sense?_ Really _. What was all that about?_

"Weiss?" An all too familiar voice to her right asked through the veil of sleep. "Weiss! You're awake."

Blinking, Weiss looked to her side to see and relieved looking Yang. What on earth was the blood doing out here? Better question yet, where was _here_? None of it really mattered though we the blonde put a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled: "Hey it's alright, I'm here."

Over what must've been the next ten minute Yang sat next to her, legs crossed after she finished checking Weiss' supposed wounds. Wounds which they were both shocked to find out she no longer had after the bandages were unwrapped.

"Well, that's oddly helpful..." Weiss joked and Yang nodded tightly. Whilst she was perfectly happy to accept the vanishing wounds (she could use a break after the past few days and not dealing with life-threatening injuries was a plus) Weiss could tell her teammate was worried about her miraculously recovery. Yang studied her intently for the longest time but eventually, the blonde seemed to relax and offered Weiss a smile of assurance.

"Long time no see," Weiss returned the smile eagerly as she was filled the feeling of acceptance and unconditional friendship, "princess."

"You just had to keep talking and ruin the moment, didn't you?" she deadpanned and Yang threw her head back and laughed. Despite herself, Weiss let herself chuckle as well before she gave in and hugged Yang. "I'm so glad to see you."

Yang took a moment to respond, clearly not having expected her to be so forward but she did eventually return the hug. "Missed you too, Weiss."

They stayed like that for a while, and she could feel that she wasn't the only one who needed this. It seemed as though both of them had needed something to pick them back up again. But as the joy of the moment faded away Weiss became suddenly aware that she had no idea where exactly they were at that moment. Breaking away from Yang she verbalised her thoughts, remembering that last time she'd seen the blonde the girl had been missing an arm.

So began the very edited explanation; what exactly Yang was leaving out Weiss couldn't tell but she wasn't sure now was the time to push for those details. Instead, she sat in silence as Yang spoke and examined the prophetic with interest, whilst no means an expert she knew enough about artificial limbs to know that Yang hadn't nearly enough time to adjust and her response time with the arm seemed rather lacking. _Military grade_ , she knew that much, hardly an adequate replacement for the real thing but Yang seemed instant on putting on a brave face about it even though Weiss knew better.

"Enough about me," Yang shook her head, "How'd you end up on a cargo ship running from Lancers?"

"Lancers?" Weiss repeated, wondering how Yang had known about that.

"That's what Sora said." Right the woman who had originally found her. Truth be told she was glad Yang come along and not left her in the Huntress care, who knew what state she might be in now if that had been the case. Taking the hint though, Weiss acknowledged it was her turned to be the storyteller and started to relay just what exactly had happened to her since her father had taken her home after the Fall of Beacon.

It comforted her to see Yang's growing anger towards her father and her brother, too. She felt oddly drained by the time she finished her story, desperate to give in and let herself fall asleep against Yang's side as they watched the fire flicker; how she could feel so tired after seemingly being unconscious for several days was beyond her. But Yang didn't push her to do anything or say anymore when she finished her story and she figured what would be the harm in closing her eyes for a moment.

Whether or not she actually feel asleep Weiss never knew because what felt like the very next moment she heard a _vroosh_ sound before she felt Yang pull her upright as they moved back. A twisted blade made out of what looked like carved dust jutted out of the ground where they'd once been, a low chuckle coming from the tree branches opposite them.

Eyes darting up, Weiss saw a woman squatting in a tree, dressed in a stylised, in that it was short and showed lots of skin, version of a traditional Mistralian dress red and black with hints of white and gold, edged with fur and plunging neckline that showed of a very deliberate amount of cleavage. A red bead neckless held a fur shawl on her shoulders and long fingerless white gloves with golden etching that matched the white rope belt. Her legs weren't human though, instead, they looked more like a bird from the knees down and when Weiss saw the bird-like Grimm mask with red horns she knew instantly who this woman was.

An agent of the White Fang.

"Well aren't we just lucky today," the Faunus woman asked as her partner stepped out from behind the treeline. Her was in similarly coloured get up, red and black old fashioned Mistrillian armour with brass and white highlights. His hair was just as red as parts of his armour, pulled into a massive ponytail that looked almost like an old paint brush and his white Grimm mask was obviously styled after the old Oni of Mistral legend. Whilst she couldn't see the feature that made him a Faunus she knew he'd have one given his company.

"What the hell are the White Fang doing here?" Yang hissed as her new gauntlets hissed and before suddenly bulking up as parts of them began to rotate.

"We're here for the Schnee girl, _obviously_." The male Faunus grunted as unsheathed his sword which roared to life as its serrated teeth began to spin. Oh, a chainsword, how lovely, Weiss winced feeling in no condition to fight despite not having a choice. "Hand her over and you can just walk away blondie. Trust me when I say you don't want to deal with the White Fang's elite."

"Why do you even offer when you know I'll say no?" Yang scoffed and Weiss started looking around for where Myrtenaster lay. "Besides, I could do with a good work out after the past few months."

The samurai shook his head whilst the woman in the tree laughed openly, a third member of the White Fang stomping out of the trees behind them. At first, Weiss thought the man was a giant gorilla dressed in similar attire to the other two - his Grimm mask certainly helped the idea. Taller than two Yang's put together wearing a red and gold tunic that bore the emblem of the White Fang, black pants etched with gold and old-fashioned sandals. He wore a part of gauntlets like Yang, more plan but like Yang's new weapon they ran up to the elbows and looked purpose-built to shatter Aura as quickly as possible.

"You heard the blond brat," the samurai, clearly the leader, said as he took his chainsword in both hands, "take the Schee by force."

That's when all hell broke loose.

* * *

 **Song:** _Dream No More_ as performed by Metallica


	8. VIII – Run To The Hills

**The Heart of Winter**

 **VIII** – _Run To The Hills_

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

When Ruby was taken before Raven, Jaune was left to sit against his own stake and wait. Not that he'd really done much else the last few days besides bemoaning his broken nose. Having his Aura to heal him for over a year and suddenly losing it again sucked. The silence was starting to get to him – what conversation he had with Ruby since their capture had been brief at best and rather discouraging. Although it seemed like he'd made a breakthrough in Kuroyuri, any sign of Ruby's normal self was buried deep beneath a look of defeat.

Then there had been one conversation with Qrow before he'd vanished. With bandits at his back, he'd been painfully vague. What little he'd said left Jaune with a nasty feeling in his gut: they were collateral to make the older Huntsman do a job for Raven. If all went well they'd be allowed to walk away if Qrow returned successfully.

Jaune didn't believe it for a second. Like hell, the bandits were just going to let them go. If he and Ruby were getting out it was on their own. He was still working on the how of it all.

Or maybe not totally alone, he thought. Jaune looked to see his fellow prisoner not far off. The filthy man had done nothing but watch him and Ruby for the past few days but had seemingly lost interest as he looked to have fallen asleep. The blonde Huntsman didn't know what he'd done to be captured by Raven but only Vernal and her superior went near him willingly and even the younger bandit looked utterly terrified whenever she had to.

Jaune eyed him carefully, Qrow seemed to have some history with the man as well given they'd briefly exchanged words before the former left. Maybe he was an ally. Or maybe he was bad news and Qrow had been warning him off Ruby. He didn't quite know what to believe seeing as the other prisoner hadn't said a word the entire time they'd been there.

"How's your escape plan going?" The man asked without opening his eyes. So much for the silent treatment. Thankfully most of the camp was off eating so it wasn't like they were in danger of being overheard but it didn't change the fact that _someone_ might be listening.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jaune replied bluntly, tone a little too obvious even to his own ears.

"Alright then," the man chuckled as he looked up to stare at Jaune with blue eyes. "Maybe another topic of conversation? How'd a pair of kids get mixed up with Qrow Branwen and end up out in the middle of Nowhere?"

"We were looking for someone."

"Ah," the man let his head tilt, "going to be like that then. I mean, it's not like you've got anything better to do than play story time with me."

He had a point, Jaune conceded. Talking to this man might give some insight into if he'd help them or not. Plus, there was no telling how long Raven's talk with Ruby would last and if he didn't fill the silence with something then he might go insane.

' _You could always talk to me instead_ ,' the voice from before answered in a purr and Jaune went rigged against his bindings. He and Ruby had been Raven's prisoners for the better part of five days and he'd heard not a peep from the voice in the entire time he'd be held captive. Still, there was something different about the voice – a more familiar note that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Pushing the voice to the side, Jaune shook his head, he really must've been starting to lose it if he was hearing voices again. ' _Rude_.'

"I'll share if you go first, hobo," Jaune replied aloud, maybe a little louder than needed to try and drown out the voice. Maybe a real conversation would prove distracting from the one in his head. He could only hope. "How'd you end up all the way out here."

"I was hunting a renegade Maiden." Jaune blinked at how freely he'd admitted such a thing. What was more surprising was he knew about Maidens. Well, at least he had an idea of how this man knew Qrow if nothing else. It probably meant he was connected to Ozpin in some way or another too.

"Maiden?" Perhaps, it was best to try and play dumb until he knew more about the other prisoner.

"Don't play dumb, kid." The other prisoner sighed, seeing right through his feigned ignorance. "If you're hanging out with Qrow Branwen then you know damn well what a Maiden is. Especially if you're tagging along with a Silver-Eyed Warrior of all people. Where'd you find one anyway?"

"Uh, a _what_ now?" Jaune blinked dumbly and the man raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind," he said eventually, shrugging one shoulder. "But the person you're looking for, a Maiden, right?" Jaune nodded stiffly. "Said Maiden wouldn't happen to be calling herself Cinder Fall, by chance?"

Jaune hissed back and the man looked on with regret.

"Well, good luck with that I guess." The man nodded.

"That's all you have to say?"

"Were you looking for some murderous declaration and sudden comradery?" the man asked, looking genuinely amused at the thought. "Listen, kid, that woman isn't worth your life so don't go giving it to her. Take it from someone who realised too late."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what she'd done." Jaune snarled back as his fists tightened at his side. Who did this guy think he was anyway? Letting Cinder get away with her crimes was something he could not do.

"I think of the two of us I have a far better idea of what she's done and what she _will_ do." The other prisoner shook his head. "Cinder isn't the kind of person you can just throw off a cliff or give an impassioned speech too and expect something to change. Killing her doesn't even begin to solve the real problems which you clearly know nothing about."

"Just who are you…?" Jaune asked slowly, there'd be no going back after he dived down this rabbit hole.

"Rowan Lupus," he nodded his head in greeting, "former guardian of the Fall Maiden, Amber Faraday. Now I'm just a shadow of a man who thought he could fix the problem but only made it worse. You?"

"Jaune Arc," he said in reply, "former Beacon student –"

"–With a grudge." Rowan interrupted. "Let me guess, Cinder killed someone you care about?"

"Yeah, you could say that…" Jaune mumbled looking down at the dirt for a long moment. Rowan grunted lowly, and when the blonde looked up he could see the older Huntsman watching him intently like he was finally figuring out the piece of a difficult puzzle. It made him uncomfortable to be so closely scrutinised.

"The girl that Ozpin was going to syphon off the rest of Amber's powers to," Rowan said with a sudden realisation. "Which means Cinder has _all_ of Amber's powers. Guess Lionheart wasn't lying about that."

Rowan seemed to slump against his restraints and his eyes became glassy. It looked like he'd been vainly holding out hope that Amber was somehow still alive after everything that had happened. That he could save her. From the way Ozpin had talked about it, she'd been as good as dead regardless of what anyone else did. It seemed Rowan had believed otherwise.

But Pyrrha hadn't needed to be caught up in all of it.

' _Destiny is cruel, isn't it?_ ' Get lost, Jaune hissed back, he didn't need this right now. What had happened to Pyrrha was _not_ destiny. Ozpin had lied to her to get what he wanted and all it had achieved was getting her killed. If only he… had he not been so weak and stupid. He might have been able to save her.

Ruby was right, they _were_ losing. And he had no idea how they were going to turn things around, but he had to believe there was a way for them to do it. There just had to be.

"Piece of advice," Rowan said quietly as he looked up at the darkening sky, "let go whilst you still can, Jaune. I know you, I _was_ you. It doesn't get any better going down the path ahead of you so turn back whilst you still can. If you don't you'll only get others killed because you can't let go."

Jaune wanted to reply. To say something in response. What he wasn't sure, but he knew he needed to say something, but Ruby came stumbling out of Raven's tent at that exact moment. Rather she was thrown out by Raven before the tribe leader started shouting orders at Sheep and a few moments later Jaune was free.

It took him a few minutes before the fact he was free sank in. His body ached something fierce when he tried to stand up after so long but he managed. Ruby offered him a hug of support. After a second, she let him stand on his own and he took a minute to walk around and get some real feeling back in his legs.

"You were right," she said as they say down together next to the fire, "back in Kuroyuri. All of this means nothing if we just lie down and accept defeat. We need to keep moving. So, let's figure a way out of here."

' _Isn't she just a ray of positivity suddenly_.' Jaune ignored the voice because seeing the determination in Ruby's eyes lifted his spirits. They had been laid down for the count after their encounter with Tyrion but they weren't done yet. Time to get up and go another round. ' _Don't pretend you don't want to know what Branwen said. Don't ignore me, Jaune. You'll regret it._ '

Looking to the side, Jaune did just that as he saw someone that could make a difference in the next round in their battle with Cinder. He nodded his head in Rowan's direction, Ruby following his gaze. She frowned, turning to look back at him, her eyes asking if this was a good idea.

It wasn't.

Jaune stood and walked over to Rowan, sitting down opposite him. The older man looked up, eying him for a second before looking over his shoulder to where Ruby stood. "Can't say I've ever met a Silver-Eyed Warrior before."

"I'm not a Silver-Eyed Warrior," Ruby said from her spot behind Jaune. "Having silver-eyes doesn't make me a one." Rowan hummed in mock thought but didn't reply. Looking over his shoulder Jaune had to wonder what all this talk of Silver-Eyed Warriors was but Ruby certainly looked emboldened compared to the past few days.

When the blonde looked back to Rowan he took a breath, but before he could ask Rowan shot him down with a blunt; "No."

"What do you mean _no_?" Jaune demanded in shock.

"Did you not listen to a word I said before?" Rowan's tone wasn't annoyed or sarcastic, or even condescending but rather pitying. He looked back at Jaune, almost silently begging him to not let this conversation go any further. "There is no happy ending where you're headed. Is this girl really worth the other lives it'll cost to bring Cinder down when she's only a small part of the problem?"

"Pyrrha," Jaune corrected. "Her name was Pyrrha-"

"-And this isn't about revenge." Ruby cut in before Jaune's voice could properly rise in anger. "We need to stop Cinder before she can do to others what she did to Pyrrha. It's what she'd want to do - to protect others."

"And that's a noble goal," Rowan nodded his head, "but not an achievable one because to even try you have to escape Raven and her goons which isn't happening any time soon."

"Not on our own," Ruby agreed, taking a step forward, "but you must have an idea of how to escape by now, right?"

"If I did do you really think I'd be still sitting here?"

"Yes," Jaune cut back in, glaring at Rowan fiercely, "because you're a coward. You're broken."

" _Jaune_ ," he could feel Ruby's hiss in his ear, her form now looming over him, but he refused to blink before Rowan. The older Huntsman looked at him differently than before.

"You realise what you're asking right...?" Rowan looked at them both now, worn and weathered. "This isn't something you come back from you'll be lucky if you're both not dead by the solstice and don't get me started on the long odds of you actually pulling this off."

"You say that like being a regular Huntsman has better odds of survival," Ruby said with surprising finality. "Every day could-"

"Be your last," Rowan nodded, sighing, "might as well make sure each one is as bright and helpful as the last; as Amber would say."

There was a long pause. Jaune could see the feelings of conflict behind Rowan's frown, and a part of him worried that maybe he'd still refuse them.

" _So_?"

"No." Rowan reaffirmed himself. Jaune felt ready to tear into the older Huntsman again for his cowardice again.

"You're not helping us really doesn't help our odds of surviving," Ruby said in a mumble

"My helping you means you _won't_ survive." Rowan shook his head, letting out a low sigh. "It's not something I can explain but the short of it is am I ticking time bomb and you don't want to be around me when I go off. It won't be pretty.

"But, if you're dead set on trying to escape," Rowan said when he turned back to Jaune, "Sheep knows how to get out of here. I'm sure you two have noticed he doesn't exactly fit in around here, and I think he'd thank you for getting him away from the tribe. He'd get to disappear to wherever his heart desires and then you can go hunt Cinder."

"Can we trust him?" Ruby asked the rather obvious if necessary question.

Rowan snorted out a no in reply. "He's a bandit, just not a Branwen bandit if catch my meaning. Still, if he needs you as much as you need him, he'll come through for you. You just got to prove you're worth taking a risk over."

Rowan said no more as he let himself slouch against the stake, shutting his eyes and yawning. Taking the obvious hint, both Jaune and Ruby stood up and walked back over to their stakes to try and formulate a plan of some kind.

"If we're really going to do this," Ruby shook her head, "then it can't be about revenge anymore. Look where that's gotten us. We stop Cinder because if we don't she'll only hurt more people. We can't do anything for those we've lost, and more cold-blooded murder is hardly how they'd want to be remembered."

Jaune could tell the entire statement was a call back to their previous conversation. He nodded tightly. A part of him really wished he could let go of his hate in the same way Ruby had. But he couldn't. This mission to take down Cinder would always be about Pyrrha and nothing else.

' _All this because of one kiss,'_ the voice was back again, with that same notable change that was hauntingly familiar. Still, he couldn't place it. Just where had he heard this voice before aside from in his own head? ' _I do wonder what you'd be willing to do if you'd gone further than that?_ '

The taunting was growing more intense and Jaune was sure he was visibly shaking with anger. There was a hunger in the voice now as it continued its tirade – it'd found a weak spot and it sure as hell was going to keep stabbing at it. ' _But that's part of the problem, isn't it? All that time, all those signs and you couldn't see what was right in front of you. Or maybe you just didn't want to. Maybe it's for the best things turned out the way they did, poor Pyrrha was_ only _ever your partner, wasn't she?_ '

 _Shut up. Don't say her name again!_ Jaune seethed internally, Ruby seemed to be too distracted by working out the details of their escape to pay much attention to him. _Believe me, I know you're not just in my head and if you so much as mention Pyrrha again like that –!_

' _My, you're touchy today_ ,' the voice drawled, ' _Tell me, Jaune, if our dear, sweat Pyrrha had lived what do you think you would have done? Would you have gone along with it: pretend to return the poor girl's affection when you so clearly didn't care for her in that way? Or would you have had the stones to tell her the truth? Oh, could you imagine the look on her face if you turned her down?_ Delicious _._ '

 _Bastard!_ The voice just laughed before it retreated into the darker corners of his mind, leaving him to snap back to the conversation in front of him. He'd missed a bit but Ruby and even Rowan were looking at him. Oh, he realised, he must've said that last part out loud.

"Jaune, are you okay?" He knew he was crying but had no real explanation as to why. He could hardly admit to what was going on his head, for more reasons than one. He carried with him so much shame and regret but if no one else knew he could keep a handle on it. He didn't want to think about how the others would look at him if they knew the truth.

Jaune grabbed onto the first thought that came to mind and narrowed his eyes, glaring at Rowan. "Bastard is really just going to sit there and do nothing whilst the world goes to hell," turning away he let out a hiss to himself, "how many people are going to die because he was too much of a coward to act?"

Rowan eyed him curiously for a long moment from across the space that made Jaune feel like the man knew what was going on in his head. In the end, he said nothing, and Ruby seemed to buy his excuse without much effort. It looked like she was just as disappointed by the man's refusal to help.

"If we do this right only one more person has to die," Ruby said, although her statement lacked her revived confidence.

"Now the first thing we need to do is work out Sheep's schedule," Ruby scowled, "the best idea is to wait a day or two before we try anything. I mean Raven wants to put us to work that works in our favour. It means we can learn the layout of the camp without any issues and find out where Sheep sleeps."

"And in a few days, we can go after Sheep when it's dark and be long gone before morning." Jaune finished, realising where this plan was going.

"It'll also mean fewer guards at the perimeter of the camp," Ruby nodded.

"We need to agree which night we want to do this and not eat that day," Jaune said, after checking there still wasn't anyone else within earshot. "We'll need some sort of Aura if we're going to make a run for it. Fewer guards don't mean we're home free. One might see us, so we'll also need gear but that might be hard, I doubt she'll let you near anything you could turn into a weapon if it can be avoided. Not to mention Harimau is the one who has your scythe."

"Trust me," Ruby smiled, "I have plenty of experience pretending to eat food from when I had to eat broccoli as a kid." Jaune wasn't entirely sold but made no comment. "As for Harimau... I'll figure that out once we find out where your sword and shield are."

Any further discussion was quickly abandoned when members of the tribe started wandering around nearby again, having finished their meals. Thankfully their plan was now set, they just had to execute it. One thing was certain though, they had a long few days ahead of them.

The next two days passed without much incident as Jaune and Ruby worked alongside Sheep, performing simple and degrading tasks. Sheep had barely spoken a word to them and it was only through luck that Ruby stumbled on which tent belonged to their taskmaster just before dinner on the second day.

Locating their gear had been an easier task because now both _Crescent Rose_ and _Crocea Mors_ were being stowed in a supply tent where the pair had spent most of their first day working for Sheep, cleaning weapons and sorting through old ammo. A bandit had stood guard the entire time.

There were a few bandits that looked at them with distaste and it was obvious there were some split opinions over the fact that they'd been set free. No one made their opinion as known better than Harimau, who spent much of the first night glaring at them after she returned from wherever she normally went during the days. The bandit was still carrying around _Crescent Rose_ at the time, much to Ruby's poorly masked displeasure. Unfortunately, they couldn't do much about it. Harimau's ritual of glaring at them was cut short when Raven called on her. Although her displeasure at being summoned was clear, the bandit dared not defy her leader.

It took all of thirty seconds for Harimau to start shouting about something. Whatever it was about seemed to be a rather one-sided argument because even when Jaune strained his ears, getting as close as he dared to Raven's tent, he could not hear her shout back. The argument was over as soon as it had started and a minute later Harimau was storming out of Raven's tent sans _Crescent Rose_.

"You." Harimau hissed as her eyes found Ruby. Cracking her neck, the bandit woman looked ready to make a run at Ruby before the pink-haired woman who was one of Raven's lieutenants stepped into her path. "Move, Baiken."

Baiken's response was to use a thumb to gently push against the guard of her blade, partially pushing it from its sheath as her other hand came to grasp the hilt.

" _Move_ ," Harimau repeated, seething.

"You'll be dead before you reach her, Harimau," Baiken said with an edge of annoyance. "Is she really worth your life?"

"Is she worth _yours_?" Harimau replied cryptically. Jaune figured it was supposed to be a threat of some kind, but it wasn't like the white-haired bandit had any sort of advantage.

The standoff continued for some time, more than a few other bandits coming to spectate the whole event. In the end, it was Harimau that blinked first, standing down with another crack of her neck.

"That could have gone worse," Baiken murmured as she let her sword slide back into its sheath. From somewhere inside one of her sleeves, she produced her pipe, lighting it before heading in the direction of Raven's tent. Just about every bandit who had come to watch suddenly scattered before Baiken's ire could fall on them.

No one had seen Harimau since. Not that Jaune could really complain. Without her Sheep seemed less cagey and Ruby relaxed a little now the woman after her head was no longer around. With having gathered all the information they needed and the largest threat to their escape gone, it was time to act.

So, when the large bonfire was nothing but embers on the third night after being freed, Jaune sat up and took a deep breath. The time for their escape had come.

It'd been hours since the last bandit had retired to sleep, the guard should be in the process of changing if his timing was right which gave them a small window to act. A fog had rolled in, bring with it a surprising chill for the time of year. Next, to him Ruby rolled over from where she was pretending to sleep, looking up at him and nodding – they'd agreed the night before that when the time came he would be the one to deal with Sheep whilst Ruby would go and retrieve their weapons.

Reflecting on it as he crept through the camp, the fog would provide them with extra cover during their escape Jaune thought, thankful for the bizarre stroke of luck. Now they just needed the last piece of the puzzle: Sheep.

The tribes whipping boy spent his evening in a raggedy tent that had included several notable holes in the fabric. Slipping inside, Jaune found the boy was fast asleep on his cot with his back to the tent's entrance. Do his best to be quiet, Jaune slipped up behind Sheep and rolled him over. The motion stirred him awake as the blonde had hoped it would, but the surprise came when Sheep didn't seem at all surprised to see him in his tent.

The reason why made herself apparent a moment later, silently coming up behind Jaune and putting a large knife to his throat.

"Raven figured you'd attempt something sooner or later," Vernal said as Jaune could feel his heart drop into his stomach. The entire time Raven had known they were planning their escape. Using her spare hand to grab his hair, Raven's youngest lieutenant marched him out of Sheep's tent and back towards the large area at the centre of the camp where the others waited for them.

Raven stood before the newly relit fire with her arms crossed, Ruby held by Baiken as Momo held onto their weapons.

"I can only assume you talked them into trying this," Raven said, looking sideways at Rowan as Vernal threw Jaune down onto the ground, putting a foot between his shoulders to hold him down.

"You give me too much credit," Rowan replied dryly. He might not have been able to have seen much from his current position, but Jaune could see that Raven didn't look the least bit convinced by the renegade Huntsman's words.

"Dogs shouldn't struggle against their leashes, Lupus," Raven said as she unfolded her arms, "you might end up breaking your neck." The tribe leader stepped forward now as Vernal removed her foot, bending over to drag Jaune back up onto his knees. Raven stopped right in front of him, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her. Vernal just grabbed the back of his hair, forcing him to look up at Yang's biological mother.

Jaune caught the faintest hint of an approving smirk before Raven's face become like stone. Maybe his defiance had impressed her somewhat. "All you had to do was be patient and behave yourselves. Qrow would've been back in another day or so and we'd all have moved on. Instead, you break the trust I put in you and force my hand." There was no hiding meaning here, Raven's hand went straight to the hilt of her blade, the mechanism in the sheath spinning before she pulled out a blue blade. "I think one hand will be enough of a message, don't you Vernal?"

Jaune could feel the panic building as Raven gestured to his right arm with the tip of her blade. Yet Vernal never replied. Craning his neck, Jaune could barely see her looking past her superior into the fog as a distant scream cut the air. Everyone turned to look, the fog on the east side of the camp had turned _red_. It crackled with energy before a thundering roar cut across the entire camp.

The old Bullhead the bandits had stolen was now a fiery pile of slack and scrap metal.

"The Bullhead…" Vernal stammered and Raven's face became a portrait of rage. "Raven. what's going on?"

" _Harimau_." Raven hissed and Jaune swore he something in her eyes at that moment that wasn't natural. "We've been betrayed. Salem's forces have found us. Baiken, Momo, you know your tasks." Jaune was shocked to see the two older lieutenants not say a single word of protest - in fact, Baiken helped Ruby back to her feet before Momo passed her _Crescent Rose_ and threw _Crocea Mors_ over to him as Vernal released him.

"Raven you can't be serious!" Vernal as the others vanished into the camp and Raven walked over to Rowan.

"Don't make me regret this, Lupus." She said, before cutting through the chains in a single swing. He looked utterly shocked at the turn of events but did his best to scramble to shaky feet. "Vernal, you know what to do in this situation." Jaune was too busy grabbing his weapon to pay much else attention to the coming argument before he ran to join Ruby.

The argument Jaune had been expecting never came as from inside the mist, something stirred, fleshy footsteps thudding against the ground as the temperature dipped dramatically and the bonfire flared wildly. All five of them stood and watched in horror as a lithe figure taller than anyone else Jaune had ever met (which was tall given his father was just shy of seven foot) with white, leathery skin pulled tight across the bone and unnatural muscle. Grimm bone-like protrusion jutting out of both shoulders like pauldrons with black veins running from its chest up to its neck, but its face was worse as it bore no feature. No eyes, or nose, or ears or even hair. Just a band of small spikes jutting out at the eye line. Its mouth was fleshy and fixed in a perpetual teeth-baring grin; gnarled, serrated teeth that twisted every which way like a pit of rusting rotting spikes. Something was dragging behind it, shackled its right wrist.

The thing, because it was certainly no human, hissed lowly, the noise skull splitting as Jaune stood clutching his head. And then it spoke: _"_ b **R** A _nw_ E **n** _."_ Jaune instinctively threw his hands over his ears. The thing's voice was something out of a nightmare, matching the rest of it, he supposed. rising and falling in pitch as its words were an assault on the ears. It was like a perpetual scream of pain which the monster could somehow talk through.

"Homunculi." Raven hissed back.

' _It is. Through license of Her will, it has cometh to plunder and pillage._ ' the voice in his head laughed as Jaune's balance came back to him, ' _Inheritor of Her boundless rage,_ _from out of smoke it comes, born of fire and blood it shall drag its feet across this hollow earth. The embodiment of her fury, her one-winged angel ascended to begin the killing. It is. So, it is here_.'

 _What?_ Jaune thought as the voice kept laughing.

' _You might want to start running, Jaune. Things are about to get_ very _messy._ ' If he was sweating before, he was now, and it had nothing to do with the sudden heat.

"sIl **v** _E_ _ **R**_ _-e_ Y _e_ **S**." The thing hissed as its sightless gaze fell on Ruby after it examined the rest of their small group. " **k** I _l_ L." With a jerk of its right arm, the thing it'd been dragging behind it suddenly came flying into view. A giant stone-forged axe with a jagged blade of raw, uncut red dust. Even then the thing looked almost fleshy in places with Grimm bones protruding from the shaft and a strange sphere embedded in the blade, a dark mist twisting inside it.

The creature threw itself at Ruby with such speed that Jaune didn't even realise it had moved at first.

"Vernal, what are you waiting for?" Raven shouted at them as it intercepted the things charge, catching the curve of its axe with her sword before she kicked out at it, "I'll hold the Grimm back. Now run!" Jaune needed no further prompting, and neither did Rowan who took off westward and the blonde followed, taking hold of Ruby as he did so. Only for her to stagger to a halt after a few steps, dropping to her knees as she clutched her chest.

"Ruby!" Jaune cried as he ran back to her. "Ruby, what's wrong!?"

"My chest hurts," Ruby said, sounding like she could barely breathe, "and I can hear them. In my head. All of them, Jaune. _So_ many. It hurts."

"Hear who?" He asked quickly as he tried to help her up, thankfully the Grimm - if that's what it was - was no longer in sight as it was too busy dealing with Raven. Good thing too, otherwise the thing might have just forgone Raven and jumped them.

"All the people that thing has killed." Jaune didn't have time to reply or to question what Ruby was saying because as he scooped her up as Vernal came running around the side of the tent. She looked torn and the blonde could hear the faint sounds of clashing blades and shouts of people running to Raven's aid whilst she ordered them to stay back or they'd die.

"Come on, we're leaving!" Vernal shouted as she passed Rowan before cutting upwards to head north-west, "This way!" Jaune did as he was told and took off fast as he could whilst carrying Ruby. They had to get as far away as possible before either the Grimm killed Raven or eluded her long enough to pursue them. All Jaune really knew anymore was that the thing clearly wanted to kill Ruby and it wouldn't stop until it did so and he wasn't sure anyone alive could stop it.

* * *

 **Song:** _Run To The Hills_ as performed by Iron Maiden


	9. IX – Ignite

**The Heart of Winter**

 **IX** – _Ignite_

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Time had lost all meaning.

They'd been running for hours now and Jaune was still carrying her on his back although he seemed ready to collapse. Both had barely eaten all day and she'd long come to regret the decision. Ruby would gladly trade what Aura she had at the time to not deal with the madding hunger that was building inside.

Vernal was ahead of them, not looking much better than Ruby felt. Whilst her pace had being blisteringly fast earlier, she'd slowed to a rather laughable speed a while ago and it sounded like she was struggling to breathe. Rowan was the only one who didn't look ready to pass out. The man looked like he'd only just broken a sweat.

"We need to stop," Rowan said from the front of the group as they emerged from the treeline onto what looked like an old dirt path. Looking around the older Huntsman seemed pretty convinced they weren't going to find a better place to stop any time soon.

"Are you insane?" Vernal hissed as she staggered over to him, trying to muster the strength to glare. "We need to keep moving so that _thing_ won't catch us." Her words might have had more of an effect if she didn't have to catch herself when she stopped in front of Rowan, grabbing on his shirt for support.

"There's no outrunning it," Rowan shrugged as he met the bandit's glare with a deadpan look, "if we keep pushing, we're only lowering our own odds of survival. Rest ten minutes and then we'll move on. Wherever we're headed isn't going anywhere."

"What was that thing?" Jaune panted as he bent down to let Ruby slide off his back. When she did, she let herself flop onto the damp grass at the path's edge without protest before her blonde friend fell into a crumpled heap next to her. Ruby mustered the strength to give the blonde's shoulder a squeeze. She hoped it was enough to convey how grateful she was. If he hadn't carried her away from that thing, she had no idea if she'd still be alive.

"Raven called it a Homunculi or something," Ruby said when she gathered the strength to talk before her gaze went to Vernal, who now stood slumped against a tree – whilst she might not have agreed with taking a break, she was in dire need of one. When the bandit noticed Ruby's gaze her face contorted into one of annoyance.

"What makes you think I know what that thing was?" Vernal demanded snappishly and Ruby might have shrunk back at the words had she had the energy to do so. Instead, she just let her eyes drop to the ground as Vernal went back to trying to catch her breath.

"The Homunculi," Rowan said, "or a Homunculus are a small handful of human-like Grimm. Each one is personally created by Salem from the fragmented remains of a human soul that died a particularly horrific death; most have some sort of lingering business that helped anchor their soul to this world long enough for Salem to find it.

"They feed on other Grimm, gaining power by absorbing their lesser kin. Each one is unique unto itself and possesses abilities no other Grimm has. They also think like people and are capable of broken speech. They only ever leave Salem's side to complete the most important tasks given to them directly by their mother. It's why Ozpin calls them the Children of Salem."

"So, what, it's a super Grimm…?" Jaune propped himself up on his elbows to look at Rowan and Ruby looked to see the older Hunter nodded slowly. "Well, _great_!"

"It's a little-oversimplified way of putting it," Rowan bent over for a second, taking a long breath, "but yeah, that about sums it up. Salem must be pretty pissed about something if she's sending out the Homunculus to massacre _bandits_. Now it's hunting us–"

"Hunting me," Ruby cut in and Rowan looked up at her. He held her gaze for a long moment before shooting a sideways glance at Vernal who wasn't really paying attention, his eyes narrowing, before he turned back to Ruby herself, and nodded. "But _why_?"

"The Homunculi are what hunted the Silver-Eyed Warriors to edge of extinction," Rowan explained, and Ruby felt something heavy settle in her stomach. She really should have guessed as much. "Your very existence is a personal insult to it."

Just what she needed, a super Grimm out for her head.

"It's a Grimm," Vernal snorted, "it _can't_ be insulted."

"If you want to tell it that when it catches up to us feel free," Rowan smirked at Vernal who glared back but had no retort.

The four of them rested a while longer before Vernal started to look antsy to get moving again, but truthfully Ruby still didn't feel in any condition to move. It didn't look like she had much of a choice in the matter though when the bandit woman started glaring at her and Jaune. The message was clear: their respite was over.

"What's the plan?" Jaune said in a hiss as he stood back up. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby could see his legs shake. "I mean, you said we can't outrun that thing, right?"

"We keep moving a wait for Raven," Vernal said in a way that meant the topic was not up for discussion.

"Eh, _no_ ," Rowan replied as he shook his head. "If she's not already then Raven will be dead soon if she tries fighting that thing for an extended period. The first thing we'd need to do is get my other arm back _._ "

"Excuses me?" Vernal stood upright and marched over to the towering Huntsman a knife appearing in her hand. "Want to repeat that? I thought for a second there I heard you disregard my orders, dog."

"Because I did," Rowan said in a way that implied they didn't have time for this conversation. Instead, he walked over and squatted down in front of her, Ruby could only grimace at the thought of what was probably coming next. "Do you reckon you could reattach an arm if we found it?"

"I have no idea," Ruby answered lamely, knowing it wasn't what Rowan had been hoping to hear. A look of momentary victory flashed on Vernal's face, having already won the argument in her own mind; Rowan wasn't so quick to give up as he looked at her pleadingly. "Putting a weapon back together? No problem. Robotic limbs? Not really my thing…"

"I can talk you through it," he shook his head and Ruby clasped her hands nervously, wringing her fingers. "We can't outrun that thing but if I can get my other arm back, I can slow it down long enough for you to reach a major population centre where you can disappear."

"You talk about Raven being dead already but then announce you can fight that thing?" Vernal shouted at him so loudly that Ruby was certain if anyone else was nearby then their own presences was no longer a secret. Raven clearly meant a lot to Vernal and it was clear her worries over her leader's safety were starting to get to her.

"Well, not me," Rowan face twisted into a look of revulsion. Ruby wasn't sure she liked where this conversation was going, her mind flicking back to Rowan's comments about being a time bomb. "-But Hyde could if I let it off its leash."

Even amid the darkness, Ruby saw Vernal go shock white: "You're out of your mind! We've already got one monster chasing us and you want to add another one to the mix!?"

"Who's Hyde?" Jaune asked, speaking for the first time in a while and Ruby wondered if they really wanted to know the answer to that question. "Scratch that, _what_ is Hyde?"

"My Semblance." Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose. He was clearly uncomfortable but seemed resigned to the fact there was no way around not moving again without an explanation. "It's the primal animal inside, when I'm ever close to death the animal instinct would take over and I'd got into a berserk state where my ability to take hits became superhuman. Even without Aura, I'd be an unstoppable juggernaut who felt no pain and could heal rapidly.

"Then a couple of years back whilst I was still at Atlas my team had a run in with a nasty ooze-like species of Grimm known as an Oublieux. I was injured and the thing sort of mixed with my blood and Hyde manifested not long after. The primal part of my mind broke off and became its own being. Even right now I hear Hyde talking to me, telling me to rip your throats out. It's become a constant battle to stay in control."

" _What_!?" Jaune took a step away from Rowan and Ruby could only stare wide-eyed. Well, that certainly explained the whole time bomb thing. She just wasn't expecting something like that. "Your Semblance is a Grimm?"

"What? No!" Rowan looked panicked by Jaune's reaction. "I mean I'm alive and I have Aura so not a Grimm. Not exactly, anyway, I think…"

"Does my uncle know about this?" Ruby asked as she finally stood up on her for the first time in hours. "About Hyde I mean?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Rowan said, still squatting and looking at the ground. "He knows about the whole berserker thing, he's seen it happen. I don't know if Ozpin ever told him about Hyde though. I'd be surprised if he doesn't know, though."

Ruby could see Vernal did not like this conversation any more than Jaune did. But it wasn't like they had a better plan; she was inclined to agree that simply running would just delay the inevitable.

"Where will we find your arm?" Ruby said without blinking as she knew she needed to sound more convinced that she was. Rowan looked up, a little surprised at how easily Ruby had agreed to his plan. She didn't really care how the older Huntsman felt though because she looked over her shoulder to see the one reaction she did care about. Jaune looked hesitant and uncertain, but when their eyes met, she could tell he knew this was their best shot.

The blonde nodded at her, and she knew he was agreeing to follow her regardless of how the next few minutes went, and Ruby let out a sigh of relief. There was something so reassuring about knowing that Jaune would always have her back.

"You're all out of your minds!" Vernal hissed, dragging Ruby back to reality.

"What other choice do we have?" Ruby asked softly, a part of her honestly hoping that Vernal would provide her with an alternative that didn't rely on a literal monster as the linchpin of their only plan.

The bandit swore loudly after a while, kicking out a lonely stone before turning on her heel to head down the path itself instead of into the treeline; "Our original camp is this way." She glared over her shoulder when they didn't immediately start following her.

"Rowan," Ruby called after the older Huntsman, who was the first to follow Vernal, "please don't make me regret this." She recalled Raven's words about regret and second-guessing herself, but Ruby didn't think herself that cold and she wouldn't let herself become like Raven if she could help it. People counted on her and she'd be there for them.

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Rowan said as he refused to meet her eyes. Not at all what she'd wanted to hear, Ruby thought. "But I can promise I'll do everything in my power to get you to Haven. I owe Qrow that much."

Rowan's vow brought her no comfort as she watched him walk away as Jaune came to stand next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him; "Well, at least we've got a plan now. That's got to count for something, right?"

"Yeah, it does." Ruby nodded her head, trying to recall her hope and confidence from a few hours ago. The whole being hunted by a super Grimm had kind of put a dampener on it. No, she shook her head, letting the despair take over now wouldn't do anyone any favours. There'd be time to feel overwhelmed later. "We've got to keep moving before we lose sight of the others."

Jaune gave her shoulder another squeeze and together they walked after Vernal and Rowan, Ruby silently praying that wherever the rest of her friends where they were safe and having better luck than she and Jaune were.

* * *

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Yang swore loudly when she hit the tree behind her, her entire body aching from previous blows. The hulking gorilla-like Faunas was, as loathe as she was to admit it, kicking her ass. His sheer size made it all but impossible for her to land a solid hit thanks to his greater reach. She could feel her Aura flicker as she raised her fists back up, her prosthetic shaking.

Maybe she wasn't as combat ready as she'd convinced herself she was.

Well, too late now.

"What's the matter Lurch," Yang taunted as she gestured for her opponent to come at her once more, "waiting for an invitation?" the Faunus let lout a dumb grunt as he lumbered forward with surprising speed for someone so large.

Yang was still faster though and was able to duck around the tree. Her eyes went wide as she heard the old oak groan and buckle before falling towards the Faunus. The blonde knew from experience that this was her moment; dodging the tree would leave the White Fang member open to her counter-attack but she was more worried about Weiss. Her white-haired teammate was two on one against the other members of the White Fang.

Whilst she couldn't see the other battle waging when her head whipped around, she could hear a chain-blade whirling and grind against opposing metal which at least meant Weiss was still fighting. Good, Yang thought, but Lurch the giant was on her again and the blonde had to put the heiress to the back of her mind as the huge White Fang member swung at her with a piece of fallen tree.

Ducking under it was easy enough thanks to the size difference between her and her opponent, which in this instance worked in her favour. Okay, she thought with a long breath, trying to maintain some distance between herself and the Faunus whilst he wasted energy swinging around the tree trunk. It was clear from how he was attacking her that this guy had no idea how to properly approach fighting someone so much smaller than him; he'd dominated her early when she couldn't help but fall back on bad habits and charged head on to protect Weiss.

But being forced so heavily on the defensive, something rather foreign to her until recently had allowed her mind to clear.

This guy was her before she'd lost an arm.

All brute force and no thought or caution about the openings he made each time he attacked. She just needed to figure out how to abuse them before he could clean up his fighting and she was sent back to square one with no way to land a hit. She saw it when he swung at her with the tree again as she rolled out of the way – his footwork was sloppy.

Whether it was because of his improvised weapon or a deeper underlying issue Yang didn't care. She'd figured out how to win. She just needed to keep falling back, for now, drag the Faunus deeper into the treeline were swinging around that huge chunk of wood would be difficult. He followed her without thought, causing the blonde to smirk.

When they got to a tight cluster of trees, Yang knew it was time to make her move when she felt her back hit another tree.

This time Lurch used his improvised weapon like a lance, trying to impale her; but instead of ducking or rolling she jumped. The Faunus gave a growl of surprise as Yang landed on top of the tree and ran. That surprise turned to worry when it became clear he couldn't swing the tree around to shake her off with how tight the space around them was. He let go quickly, stepping back, but he staggered due to his poor footwork and lost his balance before toppling backwards.

Yang jumped again and came down on her opponent's chest like a cannonball, slamming her left fist into his chest so hard that she instantly saw his Aura crackle under the strain. Knowing she might get another chance like this she started laying into her enemy with wild abandon.

It felt exhilarating to finally be on the offensive again. So much so that she missed the massive fist that hit her right side until she almost went head first into another tree. Catching herself in time, she heard something creak and groan as she glared at Lurch.

She knew from experience her eyes were bloody red now as she could hear her hair crackle as the temperature suddenly spiked furiously as the area became more illuminated from the faint glow of her hair.

"That stung," Yang hissed before she threw herself out of the way of Lurch's shoulder charge. When she lifted her fists back up though only her left rose. Eyes going wide in panic, Yang looked down to see her right arm just dangling there, soaked in her own blood. "Son of a bitch!"

Stupid Atlas tech.

"Crush you."

"Huh, so you _can_ talk." Yang couldn't help mouthing off despite herself. She could see the giant's beady red eyes narrow behind his mask. "I was starting to think that speech was beyond you." Lurch cracked his neck in response and Yang rolled her eyes.

Typical guy, she thought, adjusting her stance to protect her now useless right side. When all this was over, she was going to have some serious words with Weiss over the reliability of her countries supposed state of the art technology.

He came charging at her, a wild beast swinging furiously without real coordination and only the goal of pummeling Yang into a red puddle in mind. It was more of an issue to stay on the defensive now, without her right arm working her right side was effectively unguarded forcing her to burn even more energy dodging. On a more positive note, what hits she'd landed had done work, seeing as Lurch's Aura flickered and hissed which meant he didn't have a lot of it to get through. He was probably so used to being able to break people in one or two hits that he almost never got hit himself.

Her chance came when she tripped over a protruding root of all things. When she hit the ground, her opponent didn't think before clasping both hands overhead and slamming them down on top of her like a hammer. Yang was fast enough to tumble out of the way, the White Fang member roaring in outrage as his hands were now tangled in the mess of roots he'd created.

Ducking between his legs, Yang went to town by throwing her left fist repeatedly into the back of one of his knees. He came crashing down like one of the many trees they'd already ruined during their brief battle, shifting around to lay into his left side.

 _Chop 'em down_. Yang coached herself before the mountain of flesh twisted as Aura shattered. One of his mallet-like fists came around, catching the blondes unprotected right side and blasting her into the air.

Yang let out a tirade of curses as she went skidding across the forest floor. Scrambling back to her feet, the blonde Huntress gave her right shoulder a twist before she could feel her right arm respond to commands again. Whatever had been knocked loose earlier was back in place and Yang was still raring to go.

Her opponent rushed her from behind, right hand raised for a huge overhead swing, but Yang didn't instantly turn to face him.

Instead, she took a moment to take a long breath as the world seemed to slow down around her. The old her would've given in to her rage, her desire to win, to meet Lurch's charge head on without thinking the consequences through by now. Not the new her. Whilst the new Yang couldn't help but still feel at home in the thrill of battle, that taking on Lurch hadn't reminded her of days gone by when she could be reckless and free, she also understood there was so much more at stake now.

' _Don't think I'm not saying it's not okay to be angry,'_ he father's voice echoed in her mind, _'anger can be a great motivator but the second it becomes your sole driving force is the second you become no better than a Grimm operating on base instinct. To control that anger, you need to be able to step back and understand the consequences of each fight as they happen. Sometimes there's a lot more at stake than who wins.'_

Yang had no intention of doing something as petty as _simply winning_ anymore. She needed to take this guy out and regroup with Weiss before something terrible could happen. She would protect her teammate.

 _I am not my rage_ , Yang thought to herself as she parted her feet properly, _it does not control me_. I _control_ it _and right now it's going to help me save Weiss._ She spun, and her eyes opened, and somehow, she knew they weren't red anymore nor lilac either, but caught somewhere between. Her hair was still aglow, roaring like fire though – no, now it _was_ fire now.

She caught Lurch's fist with surprising ease like it was light as a feather.

"Uh-oh…" the Faunus audibly gulped and Yang _grinned_. Somehow her Semblance had seemingly evolved at that moment and manifested into a pair of additional arms sprouting from her shoulders made of roaring fire that helped to hold back the blow. It was new and strange, but she certainly wasn't going to complain. Where once she had but only one fist in this fight, she now had four.

 _Game on_.

"Oh _yes_." She taunted back before turning on one heel and through the giant over her shoulder. He flew like a ball and Yang jumped after him, using shots from her gauntlets to help propel her.

Letting out a whoop of exhilaration, Yang began to pummel her enemy in mid-air, each punch propelling the giant higher as she used Celica Phoenix's shotguns to keep level whilst occasionally landing on a tree branch and springing back into the air.

The giant struggled against her, but it was futile. He'd lacked coordination on solid ground and in the air, he was worse, floundering like a beached fish whilst she danced around him with fleet footwork and practised aim that came rushing back to her as she'd never left the battlefield.

It was like playing keepy-up with a ball when she was a kid. She was pretty sure her opponent had long passed out, so she eased off until she could hear the battle she was looking for. So, she reared back both her right arms and punched with all her might and sent him blasting through the treetops before following him.

Crashing down on top of Lurch, burying him deeper into the crater he'd made when he'd landed, Yang found herself in another clearing not too far from their campsite. Well, it might not have been a clearing originally judging from all the tree stumps around them. Weiss stood clutching her side some ways away, rapier in hand but looking utterly exhausted as a large knight made from black ice stood over her protectively. The ground around the white-haired girl was equally blackened, glassed by black ice from which smoke arose. The Faunus dressed like a wannabe samurai was clutching his whirling death blade in both hands, although his stance seemed to fall apart as the battle reached a lull with Yang's sudden arrival. Even the bird Faunus who had been lurking in the treetops peaked out to see what was going.

Yang's Semblance conjured arms dusted her off as she smirked, folding her actual arms below her breasts to hide the unconscious rattle of her arm; "Yang one, White Fang zero." Her new arms shot finger guns at the two remaining White Fang members whilst Weiss could only stare mouth agape; "Sorry to drop in like this, hope it doesn't make you _Yangry_."

"Yang Xiao Long are you seriously making puns right now!?" Weiss just about shrieked, and the blonde winked back at the former heiress.

"Ah, come on," she smiled to herself, but she couldn't resist the low hanging fruit, "if I can't make _Weiss_ cold puns in battle, then, when can I?"

The samurai-wannabe swore loudly as he pointed at her, clearly having had enough; "Cerise, kill that blonde bitch!"

And just like that, they were off again as a multitude of daggers rained down from above. But instead of running away as she had earlier, Yang dashed forward, jumping into the air and blasting herself into the air with Celica Phoenix.

"S'up?" Yang greeted with a grin as she landed in front of Cerise who hissed, spinning her daggers in hand before coming at the blonde. Yang's new-found confidence took a quick hit though as her mechanical arm gave a jerk and shook, refusing to obey leaving her open. Thinking furiously, she swung out with the blazing arms of Semblance but her coordination with the new limbs was atrocious and now faced with a normal sized person and not a giant her blows found only air.

"Where'd that confidence go, blondie?" Cerise taunted as she slashed at the back of Yang's knees, having danced around her right side.

Hissing, Yang threw her real left elbow back to catch her opponent off guard but Cerise was ready. Throwing a dagger behind her without looking, the Faunus woman transformed into red smoke and flew after the dagger. Her former retook its proper shape after the steel pierced the wood of a tree and the woman was yanking the blade free.

Whilst Yang might not have been able to see the other woman's face, she knew she was smirking.

 _Oh, great_ , Yang scowled, _a teleporter_. If there was one thing, she hated more than fitting opponents who fought with their feet, it was teleporters. Just her luck she went from a perfect matchup to a horrible one.

Thinking quickly, Yang started trying to work out the limitations of Cerise's Semblance. Teleporters always had a catch twenty-two and even if she couldn't hit the Faunus right now, if she could figure it out, she could turn the fight on its head. The only problem was she wasn't entirely sure she had the energy to last long enough to figure it out after having gone what felt like fifteen rounds with Lurch the Gorilla.

Cerise stood there, on the branch of another large tree clearly thinking the same thing as Yang and seemed content to drag things out.

Shame that wasn't going to be an option, Yang thought with a smirk; "Hey, watch out!" She cried out as she pointed behind Cerise.

"What kind of idiot do you–" Cerise never finished her sentence as the trunk behind her exploded in a shower of bark as a swirling green tornado sent her flying.

"I did try to warn you," Yang chuckled as she looked down to where her enemy had fallen. Sora had _finally_ returned and wasn't letting up as she threw herself at Cerise with cold precision. Seeing that the older Huntress seemed to have things under control Yang made to turn back to where Weiss was still fighting only for a dagger to fly past her ear as the White Fang member reappeared in front of her.

"You and I ain't done blondie!" Cerise spat as two daggers suddenly materialised in her hands and she swiped at Yang's face. Throwing up her arms to defend, the blonde could only hiss as cool metal cut skin.

Her Aura was gone.

Backpedalling before Cerise could cut her again, the second danger having bounced of her metal arm, she plummeted. Cursing her own stupidity, there was nothing Yang could do in the time it took her mind to register how fast the ground was approaching.

Hitting the ground felt like a dull slap compared to what Lurch had done to her earlier but the wind was still knocked out of her. Staggering upright, the world was a dark blur with her hair no longer a roaring fire and her new arms having melted away to nothing. She screamed when a knife embedded itself in her left shoulder, the searing pain enough to bring the world back into sharp focus for a moment before she felt extra weight suddenly settle on her shoulders.

"I wonder if you'll look as good in red as I do?" Cerise sneered down at her but the blast of a shotgun threw her off Yang's back before she could cause serious damage.

Yang swore under her breath as she straightened herself out catching Sora skulking in the treeline, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

It looked she was on point then.

Grunting, Yang threw herself forward and back into the fight, swinging at Cerise with what strength she had to offer. The bird-Faunus was on the back foot, but more because she chose to be there, enjoying the futile attempt the blonde made to make her blows stick. Still, even if her attacks weren't doing much, she wasn't giving her opponent a chance to fight back and it seemed that Cerise had realised what kind of situation she'd put herself in.

So when Yang swung too wide, Cerise ducked under her punch and threw one of her seemingly endless supply of daggers to escape the blonde's reach.

"Your punches are feeling a little lacklustre, blondie," Cerise said with a snigger.

Yang stomped a foot in frustration, spinning around to resume her offence before a rain of steel crashed down on her as Cerise was back in the treetops and throwing blades. Yang could only deflect the storm of blades with practised shots from her gauntlets that created a hole for her to stand in safely. Swearing loudly, Cerise threw another dagger at Yang's head when she zeroed in on her with a barrage of return fire, tearing up tree branches as leaves fell around them.

Yang twisted as the dagger rocketed past her head, red smoke trailing and in a moment of perfect clarity, she knew exactly what to do. Putting in every ounce of energy she had left, Yang scrambled for the dagger and barely managed to catch it. Throwing it back the way it'd come, Cerise suddenly _poofed_ back into existence mid-air, flailing desperately.

"Got you now!" Yang smirked at the look of fear on Cerise's face as the blonde reared back her right fist. With a hiss, the elbow guard began to turn and extend into a thruster that let off a roar as the rest of the gauntlet seemed to enlarge to twice its normal size as Yang's punch effectively became a point-blank miniature missile.

The massive metal fist crashed into Cerise's chest at such speed that Yang was pretty sure it took her mind a moment to catch up with what was happening. The White Fang assassin hit the tree behind her with such force that she went clean through the trunk with a blood-curdling _crunch_.

"That worked better expected," Yang noted with a hint of pride as she admired the damage she'd done before looking to the knew gauntlet only to find it heated to point of bending in places. Stuck between its smaller regular form and the enlarged rocket fist she bent to gather up some dirt. "Hot, hot, hot!" the blonde panicked as she tried to cool the gauntlet before serious damage that couldn't be buffered out could be done.

 _Note to self_ , Yang thought with a hiss, _stealing Ruby's collapsible weapon design and reversing it was a nifty idea but I probably should have tested this first before using it_. But as the gauntlet finally cooled somewhat and there was no sign of damage to her arm, Yang couldn't help but imagine the look on Ruby's face when she saw the right gauntlet change size for the first time. That'd pale in comparison when she saw the left gauntlets special features, the blonde smirked.

Following the White Fang member through the tree, Yang almost pitied the sight of the assassin struggling back to her feet. Her entire left side was scorched something fierce and her mask was ruined on the ground around her. If she wasn't so intent on killing her, Yang might've been able to say her opponent was beautiful – or rather had been until she'd nearly burnt off one side of her face.

"I'm not done…!" Cerise hissed as she staggered upright, Aura gone and left arm hanging uselessly at her side. But both parties knew she was wrong. It was amazing that she was still standing; almost as stubborn as the blonde herself! But it looked like even breathing was taking an impossible amount of effort on Cerise's part.

"Yeah, I think you are." Yang began, seeing Sora coming up behind Cerise. She nodded to the older Huntress, intent on leaving the rest to her and finally getting back to Weiss but a sharp pain in her chest had her head to go light for a moment as she felt her legs turn to jelly.

"Sora you – traitor…!" Cerise said in a gargle as the Sora behind the bird Faunus faded into a breeze. "You set us up…"

Yang could only stare at Cerise in horror as the Faunus' life slowly faded away, a sword tip piercing her heart. The very same sword also pressed into Yang's back, buried to the hilt as Sora had used Yang as a smokescreen to assassinate the other Faunus and the blonde in a single blow.

"Son of a…" Yang began before the sword pulled back slightly, leaving Cerise's dead body to drop like a rock. "You – you back… stabbing bi – backstabbing _bitch_."

"Oh, please," Sora chuckled into her ear, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder, "don't act like you're surprised by this. Who do you think told the Red Claw assassins where to find you?"

"You're White–" Yang hissed in pain, "– _Fang_!"

"Hmm," Sora hummed in pleasure, "now you're getting it. See, I wasn't lying about what I said earlier. I just left out the part that I was spying on Lionheart for the White Fang, feeding them information on Haven so that when the time comes that cowardly traitor gets what's coming to him. To think he'd bow his head to the Mistral Council – those that enslaved our people!

"Not anymore. Now a new world is coming, and I will help usher it in, the White Fang has served its purpose, but it must evolve into something new if it is to survive what is to come. So, if nothing else, thanks for helping me weed out the weak: those loyal to the old who have no place in _my_ new world. They'll die just like humans. Just the same as you."

Yang could feel the rage boiling over, but nothing came of it. Her legs couldn't hold her anymore as she fell to her knees. She was spent. But despite her rage, her overwhelming desire to punch in the snake's face her body just refused to move.

 _Why'd I have to be such a failure…?_ The blonde thought as all her shortcomings over the years suddenly came rushing back, so many things she could have done better, people she could have done better by. Maybe, just maybe, if she'd be a better partner Blake would have stayed. Or if she was stronger, she could have protected Weiss from the fate that now awaited her. And Ruby…

 _Ruby_ … she could only let out a weak sob, using her last moments to pray to whatever higher power that might exist that wherever Ruby was, she was safe. Why had she had to shout at her the last time they saw each other…?

"Now," Sora hissed into her ear as she twisted the sword, "be a good human bitch and bleed to death quietly." The world went white when the snake pulled the sword out of her chest, Yang feeling light as a feather as she toppled forward to the sound of Weiss' distant screams.

* * *

 **Song:** _Ignite_ as performed by Jeff Williams feat. Casey Lee Williams & Lamar Hall)


	10. X – A Reason to Fight

**The Heart of Winter**

 **X** – _A Reason to Fight_

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune was planning to sleep for a week when they finally made it to Mistral. Rest in the days following the destruction of the Branwen camp had been short-lived and food scarce but there had been a shift in the dynamic of the group which offered Jaune the hope he needed to keep going. Vernal might still be leading the way through the maze of towering trees and forgotten dirt paths as the sun sank down out of sight, the bandit understood she was not in charge anymore.

Instead Ruby was the one setting the pace and making the calls on when to rest and find food. Rowan offered council, clearly more familiar with the thing chasing them than he let on. But the older Huntsman and his friend seemed to have formed an unspoken alliance and the short Huntress heeded Rowan's advice and he never challenged any decision that she made.

Speaking of Rowan, a part of Jaune was admittedly unsettled by the admission of what was hidden inside him. Whilst he might not have known anything of Semblance or Aura when first attending Beacon, he'd seen more than his fair share of unique abilities since Pyrrha had first activated his Aura.

Never anything like Rowan's. Neither had Ruby, which worried him far more. Whilst she'd seen similarities between Rowan's original Semblance and Yang's, the way it had evolved and mutated was unlike anything she'd ever heard of. It didn't help that neither of them had any idea what an Oublieux was and how it had changed the older Huntsman.

Yet if the prospect of seeing Rowan's inner monster frightened Ruby like it did Jaune she was doing a much better job of hiding it. The thought that if pushed too far the older Hunter could turn into a Grimm-like monster hellbent on the destruction of everything in sight was terrifying. As a result, Jaune had been rather unsubtle in his attempts to stay as far away from Rowan as possible. He'd wished Ruby would do the same, but her refusal to be fazed by the idea of their new ally turning into a monster had the blonde hovering nearby just in case things did take a turn for the worse.

It shamed him to think he'd become so paranoid. Rowan's refusal to help in their escape, whilst still frustrating, made a whole lot more sense after the explanation of his Semblance. The warning he'd given them never left his mind though, Rowan knew he'd eventually snap and how dangerous he'd be when it happened.

Hyde, as Rowan called it, getting loose was only of when not if. He'd admitted as much.

"You okay over there Jaune?" said Huntsman asked from behind him.

"As about as good as can be." Jaune's tone was probably more deadpan than needed but he heard Rowan chuckle. "Any idea how much longer we're going have to walk?"

"No idea," Rowan said with an unhelpful shrug. "Can't be that much longer - another day at most. Good news: seeing as there's no sign of the Homunculus it looks like Raven bought plenty of time, so we might all get a few hours' sleep tonight."

"Good." Jaune nodded back as they were now walking side by side. If he weren't running on fumes Jaune might have made the effort to put some distance between them but accepted the situation for what it was: mindless conversation to distract them from how hungry and drained they both were.

"You mind if I ask you something?" Jaune sighed in reply, accepting that Rowan was going to ask whether he said yes or not. "Why do you follow Ruby?"

Well, that hadn't been what he was expecting.

"I… _what_?" Jaune stammered, looking utterly aghast as his mind was suddenly abuzz with implications of such a question. "What does that even mean?"

"What I mean is," Rowan said before scratching at the side of his face, "why follow her when you both clearly have different ideas on how to deal with Cinder when you eventually catch up to her? Whilst your goal is the same your motives aren't – and dare I say the lines you're willing to cross to get this done are just as different."

"What does that matter?" Jaune asked, too tired to sound as angry as felt at that moment.

"A _lot_." Rowan grabbed onto his shoulder, stopping him before he could stomp off. "As I said before Jaune, I know you. I _was_ you. You're walking a very thin line right now and when you see Cinder again, you'll have to choose who you really are."

Jaune didn't have to listen to this. But when he tried to pull away, he found Rowan's grip on his shoulder to be an iron vice. In his exhausted state he almost found himself staggering. He looked back towards Rowan to see black bleed into the corners of his eyes for a moment before he closed them and shook his head. When they opened again the man's eye had returned to normal.

"You _really_ need to listen," Rowan hissed, his grip tightening, "I'm trying to make you understand. You and I are on the same path – one that only ends in death for everyone involved but you can still turn back, Jaune. We're similar, yes, but you have something I never did."

Jaune followed Rowan's gaze as it shifted to the back of Ruby's head as she got further and further ahead of them. "She can see what you clearly can't because the only thing you see is Cinder and your seething hatred of her. You need to decide what matters more," Rowan finally released his grip on Jaune, "your capacity for hate, or your ability to love. You've got another reason to fight Jaune, I'm trying to help you pick the right one before something you can't take back happens. Something that _will_ destroy you."

"But I don't like Ruby like that!" Jaune just about yelled.

Rowan rolled his eyes; "I never said you did or had to, did I? All I'm saying is you have a friend who cares about you deeply and is doing what she can to save you from yourself. Just take a step back and _think_. The next time you see Cinder you'll end up on one side of that line you walk and there's no coming back then. Ruby is right that this probably isn't how your friend would want to be remembered so don't become a monument to vengeance that she'd never want."

"You don't know the first thing about Pyrrha!"

"Then tell me about her." Rowan's demand caught Jaune completely off guard, leaving him speechless.

Jaune could feel something inside him twist as Rowan stopped walking to look him dead in the eye. A part of him wanted to believe the older man was just saying what he was to help try and make his own point, but the man looked genuinely sympathetic. He was pushing so hard because he wanted to help, not because he wanted to be right.

"Pyrrha was…" Jaune started, only to realise he hadn't really talked about this. At all. With anyone. Whilst they'd all originally agreed to stop Cinder because of what happened to Pyrrha she'd become an unspoken taboo. Especially for Jaune. "Pyrrha was patient. I was such a burden during our time at Beacon, but she never once got angry or upset with me when she found how weak I was and the reason why. She only wanted to push me to be better, her kindness knew no bounds and she was always there to pick me up when I was down, even if she was hurting herself doing it."

"Sounds like the kind of girl guys dream about."

"She liked me for the longest time. But I couldn't see it." Jaune felt something catch in his throat, eyes stinging with tears. "But even now I don't know how I feel about her. That last time I saw her, she kissed me, and I didn't even kiss her back. I was just too shocked to really do anything before she trapped me in that locker and sent me flying. Less than ten minutes later she was dead…"

Jaune knew he was crying but Rowan didn't say anything for the longest time, letting the blonde get it out of his system. Jaune eventually dried his eyes with the black of his sleeve. Rowan reached out and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"You know," Rowan looked thoughtful for a moment after the long lull of silence, "Amber came from a tribal people, and they had this unique outlook on death. Her people believed that even if a person's physical body dies their soul only truly dies when they're forgotten. One day each year, the souls of dearly departed return to this world to be with us again, even if we can't see them."

"Do _you_ believe that?" Jaune asked sceptically unsure why the conversation had taken such a turn but was willing to go with it for now.

"Maybe not all of it," Rowan said before scratching his cheek, "but I don't think they're entirely wrong either. The core of the idea is that the better remembered you are, the happier memories you left in the world the better you're protected in the afterlife."

"Protected?"

"It's said that those who aren't well remembered and those who are forgotten also come back on that fateful date with the other souls – as newly born Grimm. Even souls well remembered and honoured are not immune to the darkness, as those who would carry out acts of evil committed in the names of the departed taint their souls and they eventually become Grimm. Much darker Grimm who exist to hunt those that corrupted them."

"That's kind of dark."

"Thankfully it's all fables but the message is the important part: remember and honour your loved ones, do as they would do and learn to forgiven past slights or something like that. I might not entirely remember what Amber said the point was." Rowan lost Jaune at that point, it'd sounded so mystical before and now it seemed rather flat and preachy. "Then again, if there is any truth to it, I've got a lot of grovelling to do when I see Amber again in the afterlife. Man, she's going to be pissed at me."

Jaune let out a weak chuckle at Rowan's obviously exaggerated expression of fear. He felt a little easier for what Rowan had said, he just wished it was so simple as being able to let go of the hate that had boiled instead of him since the fall of Beacon.

"It's alright not to know how you felt about the kiss with Pyrrha." Rowan eventually led them back on topic. "In fact, it doesn't matter if you ever figure it out. As cold as it sounds it doesn't matter now because even if she'd lived, even if you knew for certain that you liked her back that's no guarantee of a happy ending, Jaune. Try not to dwell on it because thinking like that destroys even the best of us.

"Go forward and live your life as the best version of yourself you can be. That's how you honour Pyrrha, how you show her you loved her, even if not romantically: by becoming the man she knew you were and not throwing the life she gifted you away over petty vengeance as I did. Live and pass on what she taught you to keep her memory alive."

Easier said than done.

"So… did you like, _like-like_ Amber?" Jaune asked to distract himself from the storm brewing inside. It seemed like the next logical question given how much Rowan claimed to speak from experience. That he'd been in Jaune's shoes not so long ago. "Is that why you hunt Cinder?"

"I'm a poor kid from Mantle," Rowan shook his head, "I spent a lot of my time as a kid being angry at how much better off Atlas was. Being a castoff didn't help matters because that kind of stigma follows you around, especially in Solitas."

"You're a faunus?" Jaune asked, a little confused on how any of this related to his question although he suspected it all had to do with his question in some way.

"I was one of the lucky ones," Rowan ruffled his mess of salt and pepper hair, "dad was a faunus, but my mother was human and I took after her. But I wasn't ashamed of where I came from, and I took the last name Lupus to honour my father. Point is, I really wanted a sibling as a kid – that's what Amber was. She was the sister I always wanted."

"What about your team at Atlas?" Jaune found himself asking.

"Wisteria was… _cold_." Rowan's expression soured. "Don't get me wrong, I'd still trust any of them with my life if I had to, but Atlas is very against the students getting too personal. If someone dies in the line of duty you needed to be ready to slot into whatever team comes along next without issue. So, it was never a good idea getting too friendly with anyone."

"So, you never dated anyone…?"

"Oh, no," Rowan actually blushed, "that kind of relationship could get your ass kicked out of Atlas. If you were there it was to learn, not to get frisky with other students. That didn't stop some students, and there were plenty of people who caught my eye, but after how hard I had to fight to get into Atlas in the first place I wasn't risking it. Especially when my team leader was Winter Schnee. I always thought your deputy headmistress was _smoking_ hot though, like ten out ten kind of hot. Clover isn't bad to look at either."

"My sister!?" Jaune just about yelled at the older man who jumped forward a step out of the blonde's reach.

"What can I say?" Rowan laughed as he turned back to face Jaune with a smirk; "I like blondes! There was this one girl, though." Looking thoughtful, the older Huntsman looked as though he was remembering a fond memory. "After I became Amber's guardian, I literally crashed into the munchkin by accident during some downtime in Vale; getting chewed out via sign language was a _weird_ experience let me tell you."

"What happened to her…?" Jaune asked without meaning too.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Rowan shrugged. "We ran in different social circles and part of protecting Amber meant staying on the move and never lingering in one place for long. Our time was a brief, but I'll never forget her. Who knows, when this is all over maybe I'll go find her."

From the way he said it, Jaune doubted Rowan believed in the last part. There was clearly more to the whirlwind romance but the blonde felt like pushing for more details would be disrespectful after how open Rowan had been without real prompting.

"Jaune! Rowan!" Ruby's voice came from down the distant path before he could formulate a response; "Vernal says there's a stream up ahead where we can catch some fish so hurry your butts up already! It's time to eat!"

"Sounds like the dinner bell!" Rowan's smile was wide now as he turned away from Jaune and looked ready to run to catch up. Jaune could only watch the other man's back ahead of him as he found himself with a lot to think about.

Like which side of the line was he going to fall onto.

* * *

 **Weiss Schnee**

"Now that the distraction is out of the way," Weiss' opponent said in a light voice, smooth like silk as his silver eyes glittered behind his mask, "we can continue where we left off, Miss Schnee."

Ormand Kos, Weiss having overheard his name earlier, didn't rush her at his announcement, in fact, he came at her in a way that seemed rather lazy, black ice cracking like glass underfoot as smoke twisted around them. He had one hand at his side and swung his own blade with the other as Weiss summoned knight descended on him.

Weiss could feel her heart grow heavy as reality sank in; exhausted and recovering from an injury she could barely keep up now and the whirling teeth of Ormand's sword shredded her summoned knight like paper. Physical ice scattered each which way and the white-haired girl could only dance around it as she avoided another lazy slash from the faunus assassin.

Why hadn't the summon merely faded away like normal?

"Your rust is showing, Miss Schnee," Ormand chuckled as he eyed her with predatory eyes. When Ruby looked at her with silver eyes, she felt safe and valued – like she belonged, that she was loved. But Ormand's gaze made her feel her sick, her skin crawled as the man's eyes made her feel weak and alone – utterly opposite to how the only other pair of silver eyes she'd had known did. "It seems your time in your high tower has damped your instincts."

Weiss let out a snarl of frustration and she could feel her eyes burn for a moment, right hand clenching tightly before spears of black ice shot from the ground. Ormand was forced to take his blade in both hands for a moment as he spun, slicing through the ice. The shattered ice kissed and nipped at her skin but it gave her enough time to put some space between her and her attacker.

"Interesting," the assassin murmured, as he examined the flat of his blade, golden teeth still whirling, "our reports on the Schnee family Semblance doesn't describe anything like that. Do your eyes always turn black when you use your glyphs? Or was that something else perhaps?"

"They what?" Weiss stammered, a little panicked now. Ormand was right; she shouldn't have been able to do anything like that with the dust she had on her. Was something happening to her? Had her Semblance mutated as Yang's had? It was possible – Semblances did change and grow over time and repeated use, but this felt different.

This felt foreign. It felt wrong. _She_ felt wrong.

"That'd be a no then." The faunus didn't give her any other chances to ponder what was happening as he was on her again. Even if she wasn't in such a rundown state, she doubted she could face someone like Ormand head-on in a contest of strength, with overwhelming ease he batted away her feeble attempts to thrust at him with Myrtenaster whilst she could only desperately dodge his lazy replies.

He was toying with her, damn it.

But the last few days wore heavy on her and eventually, her attacker caught the frayed ends of her hair with the teeth of his blade and Weiss footwork suddenly slip as her heel was caught in a crack of ice. Her ankle twisted but she could recover, or she would have if Ormand hadn't taken his blade in both hands and thrust. The swirling maw of golden teeth caught her in the side where she'd been impaled by shrapnel after the crash. Her Aura cracked and vanished under the hiss of a small motor and her wound was torn open again as the spinning teeth of the chain-blade stopped spinning as the tip of the blade rested in her gut.

Weiss screamed.

Her knees gave out under her, her entire body racked with white-hot pain. But Ormand grabbed Weiss's right wrist as she slumped to her knees, holding her slightly off the ground. It was clear the battle was over. It had been for a while. Ormand just wanted to drag out her suffering.

But if team RWBY had taught Weiss anything, it was how to be defiant to the very end. Myrtenaster was still in her hand so she thrust upward with the blade, hoping to at least do something in a final show of resistance. The masked warrior just laughed the Weiss glared. She could feel the burning sensation in her eyes return as the ice behind her capture cracked and twisted before a fresh spear spur from the ground.

Ormand was caught unawares, the ice striking him in the back before he let out a noise of surprise and pain as his Aura flickered dully. Throwing his elbow back, he shattered the spear of black ice with a hiss, his eyes flaring with anger as his grip around Weiss' wrist tightened.

"It seems you must be taught manners, _Miss Schnee_." Ormand shook his head as his weapon suddenly came alive again. Weiss couldn't struggle free before the chattering teeth of the spinning blade came slashing down on her left shoulder. "You will respect your betters, white-haired bitch!"

He released his grip on Weiss' shoulder and she felt the ground come up to meet her. Myrtenaster clattered into the damp earth next to her, the black ice melting away now she was beaten as a low mist curled up from the ground.

Her eyes burned again, this time form tears as she clutched at her shoulder, body shaking with silent sobs. _Yang, please_ , she hoped the blonde could hear her silent plea for help wherever she was; no one except her father had ever made her feel this weak and she hated Ormand for it. All that effort to escape only to swap one capturer for another.

"How utterly underwhelming," Ormand _tsk_ ed as he used his foot to kick her onto her back, putting a boot on Weiss' uninjured shoulder, "here I thought you Schnee woman were supposed to be feared."

"It's not me you should be afraid of," Weiss hissed through teary eyes as she glared up at the faunus. "Yang will turn you in kindling when she's done with you underling."

"Oh, how little you know." Ormand said as he kicked Myrtenaster away from Weiss' reach. Before she could get out her retort though there was a shifting, cracking of black ice as the largest of the three faunus, Yang's first opponent seemed to groan awake as Weiss clutched her left shoulder in a vain attempt to apply pressure.

Staggering upright, the faunus looked around and blinked dumbly, scratching at his were his mask had been cracked and broken by Yang's pummelling: "What happened?"

"We won," Ormand smirked as he gave Weiss a swift kick into the roots of a nearby tree. But when he turned to look at his beaten comrade, he instead saw something move amongst the tree, giving a half bow of respect as a woman stepped into their clearing. "My lady."

"Ormand, you never fail to impress me with your efficiency." Weiss could only assume this faunus was Sora Hart given the description Yang had given her of the would-be cowboy when she recounted how she found her. Weiss hissed as she nursed her injury. "As for you, Rouxas, you continue to astound me with how you could lose to that blonde bimbo."

"Sorry," the hulking gorilla muttered and the woman just marched past him. Not interested in excuses.

"Let's not make a habit out of it." The hulking brute nodded his head quickly as he shifted, fiddling fingers in shame. This Sora woman was their enemy then, one who had no doubt summoned the assassins to capture her and both men seemed to respect, and Rouxas' case, fear her.

"Where's Cerise?" Ormand asked.

"Dealt with like the rest of Khan's loyalist soon will be," Sora said and Ormand chuckled as he stepped back. The deceptive snake squatted in front of her, smirking. "I've waited for this day a long time and at long last, we meet Weiss Schnee."

"If you're going to kill me then just do it," Weiss said in a hiss, eyes narrowed as she clutched her ruined shoulder. If she was to somehow make it out of this, she had no idea if she'd ever be able to wield Myrtenaster properly again after the damage done to her shoulder.

"Killing you here in the middle of Nowhere holds no meaning – no impact." Sora shook her head, her eyes wide with glee as she showed off her pointed teeth. "No, you'll live a day or two more. And when _my_ White Fang attacks Haven we will use the CCT there to broadcast your execution, so the world really understands what it has brought on itself.

"Not everyone will see of course," Sora nodded to herself before Weiss could point out said fact herself, "but word will spread quickly enough. People will at least be held accountable and the war between the Schnee and White Fang will _finally_ become the war between humanity and the Faunus."

"You won't get the chance, Yang will stop you!" Weiss said as she did her best to sound confident, eyes flicking in hopes of finding a flash of gold or hear a scream as Yang came to her rescue. There was nothing as Sora let the silence linger for a moment, smile before she licked her lips.

"Rather hard for a dead woman to do anything seeing as she should have bled out in that ditch by now."

"You're lying!" Weiss hissed through her tears, voice quaking. Sora said nothing to prove her point, instead, she unsheathed her blade, still stained red with fresh blood. Laying it across her thighs, the snake faunus reached behind her back for something. A large section of tied off hair that she used to start cleaning the sword. _Yang's_ hair. "No…!"

Weiss tried desperately to lunge forward and swipe at the faunus only to get a fist to the face for her troubles. Her head snapped back, crashing against something hard as everything blurred, becoming distant.

"Rouxas, go on ahead and notify our brothers and sisters we've completed the first step of our mission. Ormand get the girl moving or move her," Sora ordered her subordinates as she stood, discarding the Yang's severed hair like a dirty rag. "The sooner we get back to headquarters the sooner the revolution can begin when Khan is out of the way. Provided Fall keeps up her end of our bargain."

Ormand's footfalls were muffled and distant as Weiss struggled to make anything out in detail, one hand desperately reaching out for something that wasn't there. When Ormand's foot came down Weiss knew no more as the dark embraced her fully.

* * *

 **Song:** _A Reason to Fight_ as performed by Disturbed

* * *

We made into double digits! Just about everyone is now where they need to be for the snowball to start going wild, really looking forward to it - and I hope you guys are too. Back to Qrow next chapter with _Back in the Game_ followed up by _Feed the Wolf_ , no bonus points for guessing which character yet to appear gets a point of view in that chapter. Until then, stay safe friends.


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